A Georgia woman was taken into custody in Volusia County this week after a local woman lost $15,000 in a warrant scam, according to the sheriff’s office.

In a release, deputies pinned the suspect — identified as Vera Faust, 43, of Athens — as an “associate” of other scammers in Georgia prisons.

“She is related to a scumbag who’s serving life for murder up there,” Sheriff Mike Chitwood said. “And her and three other ne’er-do-wells decided they were going to make some phone calls and say they were the Volusia Sheriff’s Office and that there was a warrant out for one of our victims.”

Chitwood explained the victim sent $15,000 to scammers, but the Financial Crimes Unit was able to recover nearly all of that money.

Faust was the second suspect identified in this scam, with the first — Annie Ashley, 61, from Georgia — being arrested just last week, jail records show.

On Wednesday, Chitwood announced a third suspect — Sharod Poellnitz, 18, from Stockbridge, Georgia — had turned himself in.

He faces a charge of principal to organized scheme to defraud, and his father is serving a life sentence at Wheeler Correctional Institute for murder, the sheriff added.

Faust faces a similar charge of principal to organized scheme to defraud.

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: this Wheeler Correctional Institute, where people are serving life in prison or significant portions of their life prison, have access to cell phones and iPads,” Chitwood explained. “And all they do is make these phone calls, telling people there’s a warrant out for their arrest or they missed jury duty or whatever it may be.”

Chitwood also emphasized actual law enforcement officers don’t operate by these methods.

However, if anyone has doubts about whether the person on the other end of the line is legit, he urges to hang up and call the Volusia Sheriff’s Office to confirm.