Twenty-nine percent of Americans have served on a jury in their lifetime.
And although most adults understand they are eligible, they don’t understand how the process works. Who contacts you? Do they call you or mail you a notice? Where do you go?
This uncertainty is why jury duty scams have been a staple of fraudsters for years.
Recently, jury scams have been plaguing the Midwest (namely North Dakota, Ohio and Minnesota), and the Better Business Bureau is warning consumers to watch out for signs of the scam.
The BBB explains how the scam works:
Scammers contact you, claiming you’ve missed jury duty. The calls or messages threaten people with arrest or jail time if they don’t pay the fine for “missing” jury duty. Scammers will then seek personal information such as bank account or credit card numbers – even Social Security numbers. BBB advises the public that if you get a call from someone who claims to be a court official and asks for sensitive personal information or demands a payment, it’s a scam.
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“The jury duty scam is just clever enough to pay dividends for fraudsters,” said Dana Badgerow, president and CEO of BBB of Minnesota and North Dakota. “Our hope is that by spreading the word about this scheme it will reduce the pool of people who might get hooked by it.”
One immediate red flag: receiving a call or email about your jury duty. Most states don’t call you; they send jury notices through the mail.
Other ways the BBB says you can avoid the scam:
* Don’t let scammers pressure you. If you get a call from alleged court officials asking for financial information, end the phone call and report the scam to BBB and your county’s jury office.
* Be aware that scammers can mask their identity. Scammers have the ability to use software to disguise how they appear on your caller ID. So while calls might appear to be from your local courthouse, it could be a fraudster on the other end of the line.
* Guard your personal information. Giving out sensitive personal or financial information over the phone is always a bad idea – don’t do it.
* Have questions about the process? If you did indeed miss jury duty, you will be sent a notification in the mail. However, if you have any doubt that a mailing is legitimate, contact your county courthouse.
Photo by Joe Gratz via Flickr CC License
