The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are making the public aware of a scam reaching nationwide, in which callers pose as U.S. Marshals or other government officials and claim that the victim is about to be arrested for not appearing for jury duty but can avoid arrest by paying a fine.
The Middle District of Florida said this week it has received an increased number of phone calls from victims regarding these scams and, “Deems it of the utmost importance to promote awareness and prevent more people from falling prey to such scams.” The scammers may provide convincing information, including about the victim (addresses, date of birth, etc.), real names of federal judges or court employees, actual court addresses, court phone numbers, and case and badge numbers. Scammers may even “spoof” the phone number on the caller ID so that the call falsely appears to originate from a court number or the number of another government agency. The caller then tells the victim they can avoid arrest by paying an immediate fine and walks them through purchasing a prepaid debit or gift card or making an electronic payment to satisfy the “fine.”
THESE PHONE CALLS ARE FRAUDULENT.
Citizens should not provide the caller with any personal or financial information. In no instance will a court official, U.S. Marshals Service, or other government employee contact someone and demand payment or personal information by phone or email.
“If someone calls and threatens you to pay them to not be arrested for missing federal jury duty, you are being scammed,” said U.S. District Attorney Roger Handberg. This scam works by trying to create a false sense of urgency that you must pay money immediately to avoid arrest. Do not fall for it. Hang up the phone and instead report the call to the appropriate federal authorities.”
The court will always send a jury summons by U.S. Mail. A court will never ask for a credit/ debit card number, wire transfers, bank routing numbers, or demand payment over the phone for any purpose.
A prospective juror who disregards a summons will be contacted by the District Court Clerk’s Office by mail and may, in certain circumstances, be ordered to appear before a judge. Such an order will always be in writing and signed by the judge. A fine will never be imposed until after an individual has appeared in court and been given the opportunity to explain their failure to appear.
Fraud like this can be reported to the Central Florida office of the FBI (813-253-1000) or online at https://reportfraud. ftc.gov Information from the U.S. Department of Justice was used in this report.
