How to Avoid Becoming the Victim of a Jury Duty Scam
Perpetrators of fraud have discovered yet another way to scam individuals out of sensitive identity information – preying on those who wish to do their civic duty. Jury duty scams are becoming all too common. Here is what to watch out for so you can protect yourself and your family.
Digging for information
In a typical jury duty scam, the thief calls or emails pretending to be a local court employee and warns that you’re about to be arrested because you haven’t reported for jury duty. If you respond that you haven’t been notified that you’ve been selected for duty, the scammer asks for personal information to “verify records.”
Alternatively, they tell victims they’ve been selected for jury duty and ask for “prescreening information” before the individuals report to court. Fraudsters may threaten to levy fines against you if you refuse to provide the requested information. The information they want, of course, is your Social Security number and date of birth. In some cases, scammers claim they need bank account numbers so they can deposit jury duty checks.
Courts don’t call
The truth is, courts virtually never call or email prospective jurors — even those who don’t report as scheduled. Most courts rely on the U.S. postal system to communicate with jurors, including for follow-up communications. And they never ask for confidential personal information, because they don’t need it.
Unfortunately, many people are caught off guard by this scam. Disconcerted to learn that they may be arrested for evading jury duty, even those who ordinarily would be extremely cautious about providing personal information over the phone or via email may give the fraud perpetrators what they want.
Contact us
If you are contacted by someone who claims to be calling on behalf of the court for jury duty, hang up and notify the Clerk of Court’s office at your local state or federal courthouse. If you have questions about preventing and detecting fraud, JLK Rosenberger can help. For more information, call us at 949-860-9902 or click here to contact us.
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