Call to Jury Duty May Be a Call to Protect Your ID

Civic-minded individuals may be too quick to respond when they are told they missed a summons to serve on a jury, and they are going to be arrested.

The scam caller claims to be a jury duty coordinator or court worker. He or she tells individuals an arrest warrant has been issued for failure to report for jury duty. When a protest is made, the caller asks for a Social Security number and date of birth to verify the information and to cancel the arrest warrant.

Beyond the basic information, scammers may go on to ask you for your credit card information, reports state.

Give out any personal information and wham! your identity has been stolen, says Dale Dixon, chief evangelist for the BBB serving the Snake River Region.

The jury duty scam works on victims' emotions.

"When you're told you're going to be arrested, it jilts you, puts you off guard and makes you a little less vigilant," he says.

Official U.S. court workers say the courts never ask for personal information over the phone. In reality, workers are instructed to follow up with prospective and no-show jurors by conventional mail, rarely, if ever, by telephone.

The jury duty scam has been sporadic since 2005. The scam has most recently been reported in California. Warnings about the jury duty scam have been posted on both the FBI and U.S. Courts Websites.

Protecting yourself against telephone-based identity theft is simple. Unless you have instigated the call, and intend to give out personal information, never give out your personal information over the telephone.

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