Scams that use arrest records
No one will call you and ask for a payment to get someone out of jail.
Not a deputy, not the jail, not a court clerk, and not us. If someone contacts you offering to arrange a release for money sent through a payment app, a gift card, a wire transfer, or cryptocurrency, it is a scam.
How they get your name
Booking records are public. Sheriff’s offices publish them, this site publishes them, and so do other sites. Scammers read the same rosters, work out who was booked in the last day or two, and call the people closest to them while they are frightened and in a hurry. Being contacted does not mean anyone leaked your number or that someone specific gave it out.
Georgia corrections officials believe many of these calls are being placed by people already in custody, using contraband phones. The callers often know the arrested person’s name, the charge, and the bond amount, because all of it is published. Knowing those details proves nothing about who is calling.
What the sheriff’s office reported
On August 16, 2026 the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office warned residents about an ongoing scam aimed at the families of people booked into the Charles B. Webster Detention Center. Callers identify themselves as deputies or sheriff’s office employees and offer to arrange a release in exchange for payment through Cash App, PayPal, Zelle, Apple Pay and similar services.
Investigators identified pretrial.dcsfree.com as one site used in the scam, which redirected to a PayPal payment page while it was active. This is not only a Richmond County problem. The Georgia Department of Corrections issued a statewide warning about the same two scams in July 2026, and sheriff’s offices in several other states have warned about it since.
“The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office wants the public to know that they will never contact people and request payment through electronic payment applications or other online services to secure a bond or release an inmate from custody.”Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, August 16, 2026
How bond actually works here
The details differ by county, but the shape does not. In Richmond County the sheriff’s office publishes four routes, and every one of them happens in person or through a licensed third party:
- A licensed bail bondsman
- A property bond, filed against property in the county
- A cash bond, posted at the jail’s Visitors Center
- A signature bond, or own recognizance, when the court authorizes it
Every county this site covers handles bonds through the court and the detention center, or through a licensed bail bondsman. None of them takes a bond over the phone from someone who called you.
Some counties do point people at a legitimate online card-payment service for a cash bond, so “it was online” is not by itself the tell. The tell is who started the conversation. If you went to the sheriff’s own website and followed its instructions, you are in the right place. If a caller sent you somewhere, you are not.
What a scam call sounds like
- The caller says they are a deputy, an officer, or a sheriff’s office employee.
- It has to happen right now, or the arrangement expires.
- Payment is requested through a payment app, a gift card, a wire transfer, or cryptocurrency.
- You are sent a link to pay.
- You are told not to call the jail or the courthouse to check.
- The amount is oddly specific, and it is not the published bond.
What to do instead
- Hang up and call the jail yourself, using a number you looked up rather than one the caller gave you. The numbers below are the published ones.
- Ask the jail directly whether the person is in custody and what the bond is.
- Never send money through a payment app, gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency to anyone who says they are law enforcement.
- If you have already sent money, report it to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office at 706-821-1080, or to your own county’s sheriff’s office, and to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
Who to call, by county
The jail holding someone is not always in the county where they were arrested. These are the published numbers for the facility that actually holds them.
Richmond County, GA
Charles B. Webster Detention Center
Detention center: 706-821-1101
Jail information: 706-821-1110
Columbia County, GA
Columbia County Detention Center
Detention center: 706-541-0754
Aiken County, SC
Aiken County Detention Center
Detention center: 803-642-2040
Edgefield County, SC
Edgefield County Sheriff’s Office
Inmate inquiries: 803-637-4124
Non-emergency: 803-637-5337
McDuffie County, GA, and arrests in Glascock, Taliaferro and Warren counties, which have no jail of their own
McDuffie County Law Enforcement Center
Sheriff’s office and jail: 706-595-2040
Burke County, GA
Burke County Sheriff’s Office
Sheriff’s office: 706-554-2133
Washington County, GA
Washington County jail
Jail: 478-552-3088
Jefferson County, GA
Jefferson County jail
Jail division: 478-625-7077
Nobody charges you to come off this site
There is a second scam that works the same way, and this site is the thing being impersonated. We never charge to have a record removed or corrected, not to ask and not to remove. If someone offers to take your record off CSRA Crime for a fee, they do not work for us and they cannot do it. Use the removal or correction request form. It is free, and the request is logged and tracked.
We will also never contact you about anyone’s release, and we cannot arrange, accept, or process a bond payment for anyone. Any message that uses our name to ask you for money is not from us, whatever address or number it came from.
About this page
Every phone number above was checked against the agency’s own website on August 16, 2026. Bond procedures are summarized from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office bonding guidelines and its August 16, 2026 statement, as reported by WJBF.
CSRA Crime is not affiliated with any sheriff’s office, detention center, court, or bonding company, and nothing here is legal advice. For the procedure in a specific case, call the facility holding the person.