Most of us take a jury duty summons seriously – and we should, since the court can choose issue a warrant for your arrest if you do not appear in response to a summons.

 

In this scam, you receive a phone call from a person identifying him/herself as a jury coordinator. The scammer tells you have failed to appear for jury duty. If you protest that you never received a summons, the caller asks for your Social Security Number and date of birth so he/she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. The scammer then uses this information to steal your identity and empty your bank accounts.

 

This fraud is effective because the caller uses intimidation, trying to bully you into giving information by pretending to be part of the court system. Even if you actually do ignore a jury summons, you will not receive a phone call from a "jury" or "court" coordinator. You will receive an arrest warrant.

 

Never give out your Social Security Number or other sensitive information (credit card numbers, etc.) to someone who has called you.

 

The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites warning consumers about the fraud.