SCAM – Missing Jury Duty

Pleasant View Neighborhood Watch is warning about a new scam that has begun to take root where callers dupe victims into paying hundreds or thousands of dollars in false fines to avoid getting arrested for missing jury duty.

The scam is only days old and involves a group of unknown individuals calling unsuspecting victims, identify themselves as police or sheriff deputies, and telling them that they had missed jury duty and that a warrant for their arrest had been issued unless they paid a fine over the phone via electronic means.

Once the money is paid the victims are told to go to the district clerk’s office to collect documents clearing them of the warrant, however when they get to the courthouse they learn that it was all a scam.

For a law abiding citizen, $1,000 may be a mortgage payment or other bill that the victims will not be able to pay because they feared getting arrested.

Only a district judge can assess a fine for missing jury duty and that is after an entirely different procedure that is done in a court hearing, not over the phone.   Local law enforcement agencies do not use e-mails or call to collect fines or to threatened arrest.   If you receive such a call, it is most likely a scam.

These scam, as well as those scammers pretending to be an IRS agent, have a  common denominator,  the scammer requests payment through Western Union, Money Gram or  credit card.