EUGENE & SPRINGFIELD, Ore.—In a shocking twist of technology, Margaret and John Fink received a call purportedly from the Eugene Police Department. The caller claimed to be their son, urgently asking for money to pay his bail. However, the voice they heard was artificially generated, designed to deceive them into handing over thousands of dollars.
Margaret, who answered the phone, immediately recognized her son’s voice in a state of frantic distress. “The first thing I heard was my son crying and absolutely hysterical,” she recounted. “He said, ‘Mom, I’m in jail! I was in an accident with a lady who was six months pregnant, and I ran a red light.’ The voice was exactly like his, and he was crying, so I was convinced it was him.”
Unbeknownst to them, their son, Stephen Ritz, was safe at home, enjoying his day off. “I was just watching a YouTube video,” Ritz said, completely unaware of the turmoil unfolding.
The illusion of legitimacy was further compounded by a woman on the phone, who identified herself as a public defender managing Ritz’s case. Her demands intensified the panic, insisting that money be sent through Bitcoin to resolve the situation discreetly. Margaret believed this was a way to secure her son’s release.
“She said he was eligible for a special diversion program that would expunge his record, and I focused on that,” Margaret explained. “I asked what we needed to do, and she informed us of the bond amount.”
The Finks were led to deposit money into a Bitcoin kiosk. It was only at the final deposit that they realized they had fallen victim to a scam, losing a total of $10,000.
The public defender’s office in Eugene has clarified that they never accept Bitcoin or request direct payments from clients. Reflecting on their experience, John acknowledged the need for caution. “I should have realized that they would require us to go in person to pay bail,” he admitted.
Margaret and John want to share their story, knowing that others could easily be caught in a similar web of deceit. John highlighted the importance of having precautions in place, such as a family password. “You don’t think you’ll ever need something like that,” he noted. “Had we had a password, they wouldn’t have known it, and it would have saved us $10,000.”
