A super common voice phone call phishing scam (i.e., vishing) is when the scammer calls you and pretends to be a law enforcement official with a warrant for your arrest for not answering a court jury duty summons.
Depending on the source you use and the legal jurisdiction involved (e.g., state, federal, county), as much as 20% - 40% of people who receive a summons to appear in court as part of a jury (or Grand Jury) ignore it. They see it and throw it away.
They knowingly throw it away, not wanting to disrupt their life or career to take a day or potentially weeks out of their life to be part of a court jury. I get it. It can be unexpected, disrupting and you can spend hours a day waiting to be called as part of a jury, only to not be selected.
Ignoring a jury summons and not showing up for jury selection is a violation of the law and can easily result in serious consequences. If you are a legal citizen, it’s your legal and ethical duty to serve on a jury when called (in countries with citizen juries). But most of the people who get them and ignore them, do so without ever being harassed by the courts or law enforcement.
It makes jury scofflaws good potential phishing victims.
The scammers (usually part of a large call center) have your phone number, name, address, and know what county you are in. Then they call you, pretend to be the sheriff’s department or police department and tell you that you have an outstanding warrant and that you will be arrested and pay a big fine.
But…they will offer to let you pay the fine over the phone and avoid arrest, using credit cards or gift cards purchased from a store.
Who would ever believe that law enforcement would let them pay a fine using store-purchased gift cards? A lot of scared people who were always worried about throwing away that jury summons. The defense is easy.
If anyone calls claiming to be from law enforcement or the court system, ask them for the case number (which they will usually provide) and then tell them you will look up their phone number using a reputable source (never call back the phone number they give you)…and most of the time they will either threaten you with coming to arrest you one more time or simply hang up. Most hang up when they realize the potential victim is onto their scheme.
A lot of people reading this might think they would never fall for this scam. But people do. If it’s not you, it could be a family member or friend. I think we are all susceptible to the right scam at the right moment in our lives.
You can help people avoid this scam by letting them know it exists. And if you get a jury summons, don’t throw it away.
Here's how it works:
