b.e.w.a.r.e.

@Lakota12 (42600)
United States
April 25, 2007 8:27am CST
If link dont work for you open new browser and put it in manually. Although this scam has only been happening in the States so far, it doesn't take long for copycats start up in Canada. Jury Duty 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 the 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. Sometimes they even ask for credit card numbers. Give out any of this information and .... Bingo! Your identity has just been stolen. The scam has been reported so far in 11 states. 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. Pass this on. I checked Snopes and this is for real. Here is the link if you want to check it out. http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp
5 people like this
6 responses
@mummymo (23706)
25 Apr 07
This is horrible - where do these scammers get their ideas - they are very clever - pity they didn't use this for good rather than bad - they could probably make the world a whole lot better if they put as much thought and effort into positive ideas rather than these scams! Thanks for the warning cos no doubt it won't be long until this scam spreads to the uk! xx
1 person likes this
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
26 Apr 07
your welcome and I say the same thing al the time. The could do better to be puttunbg this all to better use
@meme0907 (3481)
• United States
26 Apr 07
Hey LKo12 Thanks for the heads up +'s 2 U +++ :D
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
26 Apr 07
your welcome
1 person likes this
@meme0907 (3481)
• United States
26 Apr 07
as always ++++ :D
• United States
25 Apr 07
Thanks Lakota. I always try to be aware of the latest scams out there. I hadn't heard of this one yet though. It helps to have a heads up on these criminals. Too bad we can't catch em and give them a real lesson.
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
26 Apr 07
got ya there me too
@polachicago (18716)
• United States
26 Apr 07
I never give my information to anyone. If they calim to call from officals, I ask for phone number and name....I can easy call court and ask wht is going on....I don't trust this kind of phonecalls...including phonecalls form banks...
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
1 May 07
very smart of you I do the same never give anything out of personal value
@hmike_d (1529)
• Philippines
25 Apr 07
This thread should be known to lots of mylotters and to all concerned people. We're grateful to hear from you this very important information. Well, we'll just hope that the authorities could fight this up and eradicate such a kind of freak operations.
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
25 Apr 07
I sure hope so too and soon before it spreads else where
1 person likes this
@KrisNY (7590)
• United States
26 Apr 07
Man the things these crooks will do to get information from innocent people. I know I for one wouldn’t fall for this- I might think that they were being honest- But I wouldn’t give out my social security number or credit card information out to anyone over the phone. Intimidation or not- I’d say here is my lawyers’ phone number- please give them a call and get the necessary documents to them. End of conversation. There are too many cases if identity theft going on- Never give out your social security number to anyone who asks—unless you know them and it is needed- tax filing, work for W-2… and in person! I hope that these crooks don’t get many people to fall for this- This is actually the first I have heard of it- And I haven’t ever heard the warnings from the government. I can see how some people would feel intimidated to give out this info. Shame on the crooks!
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
26 Apr 07
I feel the same way And I beleive it came from AT&T brought to the notice of the government. I think that is the way it went