Watch Out for This Jury Duty Scam

Imagine the following scenario: You receive a call from an unknown number, and when you answer, the person on the other end of the line claims to be a police officer or other government authority. They inform you that you never reported for jury duty, and now you owe a fine, or risk facing jail time.

This urgent call might convince you to agree to whatever fine the caller insists you pay, through any payment method they ask for. However, should this happen to you, know it’s perfectly fine to hang up the phone, and walk away from the situation entirely: It’s a scam.

Here’s how it works. A scammers gets your phone number or email, and reaches out to you, attempting to scare you into complying. Should they succeed, they’ll ask you to pay them over the phone or via email, through various payment methods, like gift cards, a payment app, cryptocurrency or wire transfer. Government agencies do not ask for payment over the phone, nor do they operate over any of the above payments methods.

Don’t believe the scammers either if they ask you to “confirm” your Social Security number or date of birth. This is a phishing attempt, where scammers try to trick you into handing over sensitive information on your own. If they obtain it, they can use that info to steal your identity.

Beware the malicious websites

In addition to demanding payment in one of the above forms, scammers may try another tactic. They might insist that you visit their “official” jury duty website, where you can see how big your “fine” is and pay it there accordingly.

Of course, the fine—which may be as much as $10,000—is bogus. This is simply another attempt to convince you to hand over money, or information, to faceless scammers. A real government agency wouldn’t do this.

To that point, if you aren’t sure whether you’re talking to a scammer or an official authority, hang up the phone anyway. If you do have an issue with jury duty, you can track it down yourself by researching the court’s actual website, and calling the official number on your own. They’ll be able to confirm for you whether or not you were contacted for any reason.

Don’t use the number potential scammers may have called you on, even if the caller ID says it’s official. Scammers can “spoof” phone numbers, or make it appear as if they’re calling from a trusted number. In reality, the contact is phony.