Watch out for jury scam

By Brandon Fincher, community@laurelleadercall.com

June 10, 2007 02:50 pm

— Scams come in numerous forms, but now one has appeared involving a civic duty many people dread performing.
Scammers have found a scheme to trick people into thinking they missed receiving a jury summons and personal information is needed to clear up the matter according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation web site at www.fbi.gov.
The web site said a scammer would usually call a person’s house saying a warrant is out for the person’s arrest because the person missed jury duty. When the person says he or she never received a jury summons then the scammer will ask for personal information such as a social security number and birth date to verify the person’s story.
Jones County Circuit Clerk Larry Ishee said no one from his office will ever call a person’s home and ask for that kind of information.
“I have not heard about this scam happening here, but it is something we would not ever want to get off the ground,” Ishee said.
The FBI’s web site said the scam has been around for a long time but has recently seen a resurgence in popularity. Ishee said, “If someone refused to show up for jury duty the court could have the sheriff’s office go pick up people and have them attend a ‘show cause hearing’ as to why they did not show.”
Jury attendance in Jones County has always been good, and the court has never had to resort to those measures since he has been in office, according to Ishee.

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