Jury duty scam resurfaces
June 24, 2010 – 10:29 amIt’s a scam that’s been around for a while, but has once again resurfaced – the jury duty scam.
Here’s how it works: a scammer calls you claiming to work for the local court and claims you didn’t report for jury duty. He tells you a warrant has been issued for your arrest. You will say that you never received notification that you were to report, and the scammer will then ask for confidential information for verification purposes. You may be asked to give your Social Security number, birth date, or even a credit card number.
Why does this scam work over and over again? Because the scammer rattles the victim with the tidbit about a warrant, and the victim, caught off guard, will be less vigilant about protecting his or her personal information.
The reality is that court workers do not call you for this kind of information. In fact, court systems do not call prospective jurors. The only time you would hear anything from court workers would be after you have mailed back your completed questionnaire, and that happens rarely.
To prevent this from happening to you, remember that court workers will never call to say you’ve missed jury duty, that they are assembling juries or that they are pre-screening prospective jurors. It is wise to immediately dismiss calls of this nature.
Do not surrender your bank account, Social Security or credit card numbers over the phone if you didn’t initiate the call. If the caller insists on verifying your information, have them read the data to you from their own information, so that you can verify it yourself, rather than doing it the other way around.
Be sure to examine your credit card and bank statements each month, making sure to look for unauthorized charges. Immediately challenge items you did not approve.
Tags: identity theft, identity theft scams, jury duty scam
