Navigation U.S. Middle District of Florida reports surge in jury duty fraud calls — beware of impostors
Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan and U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg warn the public of a nationwide scam in which callers pose as U.S. Marshals or other government officials and claim that the victim is about to be arrested for not appearing for jury duty but can avoid arrest by paying a fine.
The Middle District of Florida has recently received an increased number of phone calls from victims regarding these scams and deems it of the “utmost importance” to promote awareness and prevent more people from falling prey to such scams.
The scammers may provide convincing information, including about the victim (e.g., addresses, date of birth, etc.), real names of federal judges or court employees, actual court addresses, court phone numbers, and case and badge numbers. Scammers may even “spoof” the phone number on the caller ID so that the call falsely appears to originate from a court number or the number of another government agency. The caller then tells the victim they can avoid arrest by paying an immediate fine and walks them through purchasing a prepaid debit or gift card or making an electronic payment to satisfy the “fine.”
