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Some scams just don’t quit! Despite running for years, this con still successfully uses threatening calls and intimidating emails to scare people into paying up. Jury duty scams have staying power because they prey on a fear of law enforcement.
How the scam works:
You answer the phone, and it’s someone claiming to be from your local law enforcement or judicial agency. The caller, who may identify themselves as the local sheriff, tells you that you’ve missed a jury duty summons and could be arrested. They may even claim that a warrant for your arrest has already been issued. The caller may appear to be very legitimate, with caller ID showing a local police phone number and an official-sounding voice on the phone. The caller may even be able to verify your name, address, and date of birth.
The scammer tells you that, fortunately, you can avoid arrest by paying a hefty fine of thousands of dollars. To pay the fine, the scammer asks you to wire money, put cash on a gift card or prepaid debit card and share the PIN, use a digital wallet app, or even send cryptocurrency using a Bitcoin ATM. Of course, the fine and the jury duty summons were never real.
Like most long-running scams, jury duty cons have a few versions, not all of which ask you for money outright. In some cases, the jury duty scam may be used to trick you into providing sensitive, personal information that can be used for identity theft. In another version, scammers use email and allegedly attach your “jury summons” to the message. The file is really malware, and downloading it will infect your computer.
BBB Scam Tracker continues to receive reports of jury duty scams. One person recently reported their experience: "Someone called me pretending to be my county's sheriff saying that I missed a court date for Jury Duty and to avoid a length and costly legal procedure and arrest, I would have to pay $3000. They texted me a fake warrant for my arrest. They knew my full name, my address, my phone number and my date of birth. So they told me to go to Walmart and send a Walmart barcode they texted me...Unfortunately they took $1000 from me, fortunately I wised up to what they were doing...I filed a police report and contacted my bank."
Another report to Scam Tracker outlines how realistic these calls can be; this person says they lost $3800: "My husband got contacted by a number that was impersonating someone from our local Sheriff’s department. They told him... the summons for jury duty was sent and signed for. They called from the actual number used by our sheriff’s department which he checked and it made him think it was legitimate. During the call he said jn the background you could hear beeping noises from a walkie talkie and people calling in like it was from an actual cop car. They really made it believable. They said he had to pay a $3800 fine or he would be arrested. They used coinstar and cryptocurrency to have the money sent. Of course looking back he feels like an idiot falling for it but these people had American accents."
How to avoid jury duty scams:
- Be skeptical of urgent, unsolicited emails and calls. Courts do not typically summon people via email, text message, or phone. Unless you are involved in a case and have opted into receiving other types of communications, courts normally communicate through postal mail. If you receive a questionable email with an attachment, do not click on it or download anything.
- Do your research. If you ever question whether you need to appear in court, call the appropriate judicial agency and ask. If you receive an email, don’t call the number in the email, as that will likely lead you to the scammer who sent the email. If you receive a call, remember that scammers may be able to spoof a legitimate agency's phone number. To be safe, look for official websites in your jurisdiction and find their phone number on their website to call. Always be on the lookout for fake websites, too.
- Ignore threatening calls that require pressure you to act immediately. Scammers try to get you to act before you think by creating a sense of urgency and fear. Don't fall for it.
- Beware of requests to pay via wire transfer, prepaid debit or gift cards, digital wallet apps, or cryptocurrency. These payment methods are almost always a sign of fraud because you won't be able to get your money back.
- Ask someone for help. BBB’s research shows that asking someone else is an important factor in reducing the chance of being scammed. Ask a family member or friend, “Does this sound right?”
For More Information
Learn more about phishing scams at BBB.org/PhishingScam. Like jury duty scams, many scams start with an intimidating phone call, like this phishing scam claiming a process server is looking for you.
Read more about the signs of impostor scams, which are becoming more common.
If you’ve experienced a jury duty scam, help others avoid the same scam by filing a scam report at BBB.org/ScamTracker.