CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Beware of scammers, especially those who pretend to be law enforcement. It’s a constant problem for local police and sheriff’s departments: people impersonating officers to steal your money – and it happened just this week to a Lowcountry woman who was conned out of $3,000. Shannon O’Donnell is a third-grade teacher in downtown Charleston. A self-described “transplant from the north,” now living in a place that she loves. “Work two jobs, here and at the Obstinate Daughter, which unfortunately caught on fire yesterday,” she said. She finished up her school day Tuesday and noticed a voicemail message on her phone to call Lt. Light with the Charleston Police Department. It sounded urgent. “In the middle of dismissing third graders, I was petrified and called him back from the corner of the room to see if it was an emergency,” she recalled. “He said that it in fact was an emergency and that I had to stay on the line as part of a gag order because I was being investigated for three bench warrants out for my arrest for failure to appear to a jury case.” She knew nothing about the alleged warrant or jury duty, but the man provided her old address and said she was served there. Shannon said she was very scared. “I am a teacher working with children, so I can’t be involved in anything legal. It was petrifying. You know, it’s my reputation on the line and if there was supposed to be a police officer coming to apprehend me at work, that would be the end of my career,” she said. “So, I just in the moment thought I needed to do everything in my power to finish this immediately to get this squared away.” The man on the phone call said that if she mailed cash cards to the United States Treasury in Washington, she would not be arrested. “He said okay, you need to immediately go to your place of work and say you need to leave. Please be advised that you were on a gag order, and you cannot tell why.” Shannon then went to her bank and several locations downtown to purchase the money cards by following the man’s instructions. “He also pretended to be on the phone with dispatch. So, every place I was going, he would say 10-4 subjects leaving the next location, and he would ask for my ETA.” Once she had the money cards, he said she needed to mail them to Washington, but first… “He tells me to read him the numbers- to scratch off the numbers and read them forward to backward, which is obviously hindsight 20-20 that was the gotcha moment. As soon as you get those numbers off of the card, it’s done,” she said. The man told Shannon to meet at the Charleston Police Department’s headquarters downtown. That’s when she was informed that she had been scammed out of the $3,000. “It’s huge, especially in this economy. I’ve worked two jobs my whole life and that was savings. That was a luxury to have savings. I haven’t had any savings in almost 10 years. The fact that I had that at my disposal was a luxury for me. And I thank God that I’m safe and alive and that it wasn’t a person that was scary and abducted me and hurt me. Money is money and it’ll come back,” she said. But now her story serves as a warning to others. Beware of scammers. Sgt. Chris Stinson with the Charleston Police Department said these types of scams are very common. Law enforcement agencies will NEVER ask for money, gift cards, or access to your bank account and they do not collect fines over the phone or at their headquarters. “When in doubt hang up the phone and call consolidated dispatch at 843-743-7200 and you can talk to a real-life dispatcher, and they can verify if you were talking to someone legitimate or not,” said Sgt. Stinson. Again, if you receive one of these calls, you should hang up immediately and contact consolidated dispatch at 843-743-7200 to verify whether it is an actual law enforcement officer.