On March 27, 2025, Officer Jacob Zimmerman of the Crossville Police Department interviewed a woman about a possible fraud case.

She reported two incidents:

1. On March 26, 2025, a man identifying himself as “Mr. James Cherian,” claiming to be a Texas police officer with badge number 2692, called her. He demanded $4,000 in bitcoin, threatening her with arrest for money laundering if she didn’t comply. She sent the money using a QR code provided by the caller via Good Times.
2. On March 27, 2025, another man, identifying himself as “Mr. David Freeman,” also claiming to be a Texas police officer with badge number 2495, contacted her. He instructed her to empty her Regions Bank CD account and send the funds to him in Bitcoin, again threatening arrest. She attempted to comply at Regions Bank, but an employee intervened, suspecting a scam, and refused to release the funds.

The employee also informed her that her account had been hacked multiple times previously and her phone had been cloned.
After the bank incident, she visited a Verizon store to change her phone number, where staff confirmed her phone had indeed been cloned.