La Verne Police Warn of Jury Duty Scammers

"Communities in more than a dozen states have issued public warnings about cold calls from people claiming to be court officials seeking personal information.

A recent spate of callers scamming the public into giving out social security and credit card numbers in order to "quash" bogus failure to appear warrants has authorities worried.

La Verne police on Thursday issued an alert to the public, warning of such scammers.

According to the FBI, which originated the alert, the crooks call people and pose as court officers asking why a person did not appear for jury duty.

Failure to appear when summoned can result in a warrant being issued.

Even if that person was not notified of any jury duty, the caller convinces the victim that he or she is still responsible and an arrest warrant has been issued.

The "clerk" tells the victim that providing a social security number, birth date and maybe a credit card number will allow this bogus court officer to quash the warrant, which actuality can only be done by a trip to the courthouse.

"Jury scams have been around for years, but have seen a resurgence in recent months," the FBI alert reads.

"Communities in more than a dozen states have issued public warnings about cold calls from people claiming to be court officials seeking personal information.

"As a rule, court officers never ask for confidential information over the phone; they generally correspond with prospective jurors via mail.
The scam's bold simplicity may be what makes it so effective.

"Facing the unexpected threat of arrest, victims are caught off guard and may be quick to part with some information to defuse the situation," the alert reads.
The scammers play on law abiding citizens who quail when threatened with arrest, then offer a quick fix to ease them out of harm's way.

Recently there have been jury duty scams perpetrated in a number of states and California is one of the states where officials are warning the public.

The FBI warns never to give personal information over the telephone to unsolicited callers.