Jury Duty Scams: How Scammers Catch You Off-Guard
Your phone rings. You pick up the receiver thinking it may be a friend or another telemarketer trying to sell you unwanted services. Instead it’s a court official saying in a stern voice that you failed to show up for jury duty.
You know you tend to forget things, but jury duty? How did you forget that? Or did you subconsciously try to get out of jury duty?
The official continues unflustered by your protest of not receiving a letter about jury duty. He says a warrant has been issued for your arrest. The word arrest makes your heart pound faster. You insist that he has gotten the wrong person. He asks you for your birth date, social insurance number, and your credit card information for a verification process. You quickly give out your personal information, everything from your home address to your S.I.N. to sort out this unbelievable mistake.
The court official may then apologize or ask you to pay a fine with your credit card if your refuse give out your personal information. Caught off-guard, you do whatever he requests so could hang up and go on with your daily activities.
This represents one way millions of people a year become victims of identity theft. The jury duty scams give con artists an easy way to rob you of your identity and/ or your credit card information.
So, prevent falling victim to jury duty scams and other scams that affect today’s society by staying alert and learning how to spot scams.
Learning to Spot Jury Duty Scams
Stop yourself from falling victim to jury duty scams by knowing the following:
- Court official never telephone to notify that you have been selected for jury duty or that you failed to show up for jury duty. Only time, but rarely, a court official might phone is after you completed and mailed back your juror questionnaire.
- Never give out your social insurance number, credit card number, and other personal information over the phone even if the caller claims to work for the government or an official bank. If the caller insists that you give him or her your personal information, get the caller to read you the data so you can answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to their questions. But, always refuse to give out your personal information like you S.I.N. over the phone to protect yourself from identity theft.
- Regularly monitor your monthly credit card bill and bank account activities. If you spot unauthorized charges made to your credit cart bill contact your credit card company immediately to stop becoming defrauded by credit card fraud.
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