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View Full Version : Jury Duty Scam



MikeA
06-17-2009, 03:24 PM
I thought this serious enough and just plausible enough NOT to blow it off like so many other scare type alerts. Evaluate it for yourselves and at least be aware of these type phone calls. Just don't fall for it or any other solicitation looking for Social Security Numbers or other "identification" type information.


Jury Duty Scam:

Pass this on to your grown children and other friends. This has been
verified by the FBI (their link is also included below). Please pass
this on to everyone in your email address book. It is spreading fast so
be prepared should you 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.

The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. 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. Give out any of this
information and bingo; your identity was just stolen.

The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma,
Illinois, and Colorado . 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 FBI
and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web
sites, warning consumers about the fraud.

Check it out here:
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm
and here: http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp
And here http://www.snopes.com/fraud/identity/juryduty.asp

AzEaglesFan
06-17-2009, 06:10 PM
Thanks for the warning Mike. When I think of jury duty I never would have thought about a scam. Some people just have to much idle time on their hands to think up all this stuff.

Prettymaid
06-17-2009, 06:15 PM
Bottom line is this: Never give out your SS# or bank account number to anyone!

anne-o-gg
06-17-2009, 10:36 PM
I got th is in an e-mail - one important thing to remember is the US government DOES NOT CALL - they always send notices in the mail...