Pregnant influencer's tearful scam warning after she was conned by fraudster pretending to be police officer

Isabelle Lux, a 33-year-old pregnant social media star took to her TikTok page just minutes after she received a scam phone call on Friday (August 30) in an effort to prevent other people also becoming a victim.

Visibly distressed and stressed out, she told her 574,000 followers that she had received a phone call which she believed to be from her local sheriff's department half an hour previously.

Speaking to the camera, she said: “I was just the victim of a really terrifying scam. . . . They said you missed your jury duty summons . . . because you didn’t show up to your jury duty you have three misdemeanors against your name.”

Becoming tearful, she said the scammer told her she could either be held for 72 hours at her local police station, where he “blood and fingerprints” would be taken, or “do the bond thing”.

When she asked for more information about the bond, she was told her alleged issue would be resolved if she sent money electronically and then went to the police station. She questioned why she couldn’t take the money directly to the station and was told it was because there was a warrant out of her arrest. “Everything made sense and that’s the reason why this is so scary,” she explained while in tears.

She further explained that was convinced the scam was real because the fraudster had her full name and address details. The star also said that because she didn’t have much legal knowlege she believed it was easy for the scammer to sound convincing.

She also spoke of the amount of fear the scammers had instilled in her, and even said they pretended to care about her and her unborn baby by telling her it was better for her to pay the money because they didn’t want her to have to spend time in a police cell when she was pregnant.

Lux’s husband arrived home at exactly the right time and, feeling that something wasn’t right, he called the local sheriff's department from his own phone. He was quickly assured that his wife was not in any trouble, and urged not to pay any money.

Real officers also said they were aware scammers had found a way to mimic their phone numbers as their scams became more sophisticated. “They said this is so widespread, they hear of it every single day. It's scary. . . We were very lucky,” Lux said in an interview with MailOnline.

She added that she hoped by sharing her own experience she may prevent other people from becoming victims.

She added: “I would just say, these people are very educated - at least, educated in scamming. The person I spoke to was clearly worded, the line was clear, but he was moving so quickly that I couldn't really fact check. Be aware of how widespread phone scams are, and that number masking is real. Not enough people know this - I certainly didn't.”