Consumer Alert
Did you get a call or email saying you missed jury duty and need to pay? It’s a scam
Missing jury duty can come with real consequences. You could face a fine, go to court, or even get arrested. Scammers take advantage of that to get your money or sensitive information. But their story is a lie.
This scam usually starts with a phone call or an email from someone claiming to be from the police department or a court official. (They’re not.) They say you missed jury duty, even though you never got a jury duty notice. They’ll tell you there’s a warrant out for your arrest, and the only way to cancel it is to pay a fine. (It’s a lie.) If you refuse, they may threaten you with jail. Or they might ask for personal information like your Social Security number or date of birth to steal your identity. To make the scam seem real, scammers also might give you a fake sheriff’s badge number and case number.
Here’s how you can tell it’s a scam.
Courts never ask for immediate payment over the phone. In fact, no government agency will do that.
Only scammers insist that you can only pay with gift cards, a payment app, cryptocurrency, or a wire transfer service like Western Union or MoneyGram because it’s very hard to get your money back if you pay in these ways.
Courts never ask for sensitive personal information over the phone, like your Social Security number or date of birth. Only scammers do.
If you get a call or email like this, hang up or don’t respond. Don’t pay or give them any personal information. If you think a call or email could be real, call the court directly at a number you know is correct. Learn more about other ways scammers pretend to be the government. If you spot it, tell the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
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I got a call for this subject a while back. They read the riot act to me and I laughed out loud. Then they said they wee coming to arrest me. I told them I'd put the coffee on for them. They hung up. Never got another call.
In reply to I got a call for this… by JOE
That's some good advice. Will surely use it
Thanks
People are using pay pal to scam you they send invoices out with your email on it
Thanks for the great warning ⚠.
Why are scammers allowed to get away with their scams? If they knew they couldn't get away with it I don't think many would even attempt it. I got a scam email today telling me my subscription to some service I know nothing about was being renewed today for $320.00 and thanking me for my renewal. The message also included an 808 area code phone number I could call to cancel the renewal. When I called the number I was informed I would need to allow them to take control of my computer to cancel the charge. When I laughed the person hung up.
I fell for this scam and lost $400.
I got one of these calls today. They claimed to be from the local sheriff‘s office with a bench warrant for missing jury duty. They were coming to arrest me unless I posted a $5000 bond via a wire service. The thing was I’d just got back the day before from several weeks in Europe. Missing a jury duty notice was possible. However the call became increasingly strange and the scammer terminated it when I said I was calling the sheriff’s office to confirm. Some notable features. 1. Payment was not possible at the sherrif’s office; it had to be done at a Winn-Dixie. 2. They wanted me to keep the call active on my cell while I arranged the transfer - I think this was to tie up my phone and prevent me calling the sheriff. 3. The pressure on me was unrelenting. 4. When it was clear it would take hours to get $5000 cash, the scammer started negotiating on the bond down to $1000 which made even less sense than everything else about the call.
These people are truly evil and I’m dismayed thst as a country and a state we allow this to continue. After I have the phone number that called me, and therefore the name and address of the telco services company that owns that number. Their records will most likely provide the IP address of the scammer. They can can be tracked down and identified.
I actually missed jury duty and got arrested and went to jail for six years. I would’ve rather pay to fine.
In reply to I actually missed jury duty… by Tom
Oh you went to jail for 6 years for missing jury duty. I find this hard
to believe.
We got the same call this afternoon, but the fellow never got to the payment part. He started by softening his prey with threats, but once it was clear he didn't know the basic rules of jury duty (like 75-year-olds are not required to serve), it seemed we were getting scammed. We called both the sheriff's office and the jury commission and learned that this is has become a persistent problem. In fact, we were told some good citizens actually showed up at the courthouse to pay their fines. I really wish we had seen this warning (or heard the local news broadcast) before nearly getting sucked into the scam. And I really thought I was on top of most of the scams!
I got the call about missed jury duty and warrants out for my arrest. They had my address and kept telling me to turn myself in to the Sherriff's office that they were impersonating. Very convincing as an angry, scary policeman. I wasn't asked for money; I think they were waiting for me to leave so they could rob my home. Their phone number was local. I might have fallen for this if they had used my legal name instead of my nickname. Please be careful out there!
We got scammed for 500 on this scam they had the the warrant documents and everything it’s ridiculous how people are allowed to get away with this over and over I wish I could see them
I received a call today. They even sent a picture of the warrant document. At 1st it seemed real. They told me to come to the sheriff station turn myself in bringing 2 forms of ID. They requested $4500 to delay they warrant. Of course I refused. Another guy started saying some very foul things before I hung up. This was a lot for a scam and appeared real. I feel bad for anyone who has lost money to these criminals
I received a call like this 9/25/2024. I live in Alexandria, VA. Similar to others comments here: missed jury duty, contempt of court, report to Sheriff's office for arrest/booking and see magistrate judge. I was told I had to stay on the line, or I would be a fugitive and be guilty of resisting arrest and fleeing. At first it seemed plausible and legit, I'm bad about reading all my mail and had some travel over the dates they quoted. I started driving to the sheriff's office, but then was told I needed to bring $4500 cash for bail. Then I was told I needed to go to a local supermarket(Giant Foods) to do the payment because their "machine" was down. I became suspicious and drove to the local police station instead. I told the scammer that I was verifying his story at the police station and he became very aggressive and threatening, implying that I would suffer immediate arrest, more penalties, steeper bail, further fines, etc. Also that the city police couldn't see the warrant because he was the sheriff's office. As I was explaining the situation to a real police officer, the scammer hung up. I filed a police report and then I called the sheriff's office to report the scam to them. The deputy I spoke to at the sheriff's office told me that she had just gotten off the phone with a woman who had just been a victim of the same scam scenario and had lost $1000.
I was taken for $2000 by a con artist posing as a Sheriff’s Deputy. The can man stated all the same items as others here have posted. He sent me a fictitious Warrant of Arrest via SMS message. The money was to post bond via Walmart’s GO2 bank. The con man even had a police scanner running in the background to simulate him sitting in a police car. Very frustrating!