Jury scam - identity theft
By Debs_place
@Debs_place (10520)
United States
March 2, 2007 1:37am CST
When are they going to do something other then just send warnings...this is getting ridiculous.
Jury Duty Scam
This has been verified on Snopes.com (link listed below) and 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 summons for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of scam has surfaced.
Fall for it and your identity could be stolen, reports CBS. In this con, someone calls pretending to be a court official who threateningly says a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you didn't show up for jury duty. 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 just got stolen.
The scam has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma, Illinois, and Colorado . This (scam) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they're with the court system. The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm
8 people like this
9 responses
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
2 Mar 07
I agree that this is going too far and they do not seem to be doing anything to prevent it. You never hear of people being prosecuted for this crime. When are they going to do something about it. In a small area like I live, this particular scam would not work as everyone knows everyone even in the courthouse.
4 people like this
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
7 Mar 07
Ah for the simple life of a small town. You are lucky you can know everyone.
2 people like this
@webeishere (36313)
• United States
2 Mar 07
I as most have caller ID so if it was the courts calling it would state something along those lines. It's unfortunate that most victims of this type of phone scam Identity theft are seniors. They have prosecuted many people here in MN for ID theft. Thanks for a good discussion.
Happy postins from Grandpa Bob
3 people like this
@KrazyKlingon (5005)
• United States
29 Apr 07
It seems that as time goes on, some criminal comes up with more creative ways to commit their crimes, or someone with a few loose screws comes up with a way to turn into a creative criminal. While it hasn't hit what was at the time Pataki-land (Now known as Spitzer-land, & I still have not heard of any cases still in the area.) that was all over the news when it was first discovered.
1 person likes this
@littlefranciscan (18327)
• United States
13 May 07
I thank you for sharing this with me..I know for a fact though, that usually in when you are called to jury duty they send a notice by mail first..I have never known it to be other wise..
What the conartist wont think of!..You have to always be on your toes;)+
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (157555)
• United States
3 Mar 07
Good job checking it out and verifying before posting. I have heard about this scam, but others may not have.
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
7 Mar 07
Thank you, I had not heard of this scam before, I think there are just too many of them out there.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (85498)
• United States
2 May 07
I see you posted this 3 months ago, but now I have a sick sick feeling in my stomach. A couple weeks ago my dad got something in the mail about jury duty. It wasn't a summons, it just asked for his social security number for a survey. I told him not to fill it out because no way would they ask your social security, but he filled it out and sent it in. THANK YOU for this info. I told him about it a few minutes ago on the phone and he is going to the site now to check it out. He didn't get the phone call though, do you think it is safe?
1 person likes this
@kgwat70 (13388)
• United States
28 Apr 07
I just heard about this scam on friday as a coworker emailed it to everyone in my company. I was not aware of this happening and am glad that it was brought to our attention. I did go to the FBI website as it is there and fully explained what the perpetrators do to try and steal your personal information. These people are becoming more clever on how to commit identity theft and wonder what they will come up with next. It is ashame that people are out to hurt other people.
1 person likes this
@hockeygal4ever (10021)
• United States
18 May 07
I can truly see people falling for this type of scam. However I guess I'm glad I'm such a witch as anyone that threatens me with such stuff is usually told "good, send the authorities out, I'll be here". LOL I'm not one to take crap from anyone, call it old age, experience or just biotchiness! LOL
@lucgeta (924)
• France
14 May 07
Identity theft is a big problem. My father had his ID stolen and applied for credit in his name and ended-up in the black lists of creditors.
He then faced some troubles with real-state and went to the courts to clean up his name. Happily he could but it was damaging. Not sure if he was paid for moral damages or things like that.
It seems they originally got all his data from a real-state agency that was not too careful about privacy.
