'Jury duty' scam: How it works and what to watch out for
Key takeaways
- Marshal or an officer with your city s police force.
- To intimidate people into paying a fine for not showing up to the (non-existent) jury selection process, the scammers may threaten to issue an arrest warrant.
- I d bet pretending to be police officers makes the scam very effective.
Why this matters: political developments that affect policy direction and public trust.
Did you get a call claiming you missed jury duty and need to pay? Followed by a text or email with official-looking documents saying there s a warrant out for your arrest? As alarming as these things sound, they re a scam designed to steal your money, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said in a recent news release.
The caller may claim to be a U.S. Marshal or an officer with your city s police force. The scammer tries to make the call sound as urgent as possible, and may even mention some basic information about the would-be victim, such as a name or address, to sound more legitimate.
To intimidate people into paying a fine for not showing up to the (non-existent) jury selection process, the scammers may threaten to issue an arrest warrant.