This has been verified by the FBI ( their link is also included below ) and this scam is spreading so fast that you should be prepared to get this call .
Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously , but enough people skip out on their civic duty that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced .
WiregrassSeniorsMagazine . com Page 15
JURY DUTY - SCAM IS FOOLING MANY SENIORS
The caller claims to be a jury duty coordinator , from either your local county court system or even the federal court system . If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty , the Scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant . If you give out any of this information , more than likely , your identity was just stolen .
The fraud has been reported so far in 18 states . This ( swindle ) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system .
The scam ’ s bold simplicity may be what makes it so effective . Facing the unexpected threat of arrest , victims are caught off guard and may be quick to part with some information to defuse the situation .
“ They get you scared first , they get people saying , ‘ Oh my gosh ! I ’ m not a criminal . What ’ s going on ?’” That ’ s when the scammer dangles a solution - a fine , payable by credit card , that will clear up the problem .
With enough information , scammers can assume your identity and empty your bank accounts .
With “ spoofing ” software that allows a scammer to have any phone number they desire show up on YOUR caller ID when they call , only ads to the ruse . While on the phone with scammers , people have actually looked up the court systems telephone number in a phone book and it matched the number on the caller ID , so they believed the call was real and provided the information . Only to have their identity stolen a short time later .
When someone calls and asks you for your personal information or tells you of an urgent scenario that it would be in your best interest to “ offer up ” your personal information , you have to BE CAUTIOUS and take the time to verify every callers legitimacy .
Jury scams have been around for years , but have seen a resurgence in recent months . As a rule , court officers never ask for confidential information over the phone ; they generally correspond with prospective jurors via mail .
The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites , warning consumers about the fraud . http :// www . fbi . gov / page2 / june06 / jury _ scams060206 . htm