The Southern District of Georgia is warning the public about text, calls, and email scams claiming you have failed to report for jury duty, have other pending violations lodged against you, or need to pay a bond for a family member who was arrested. The caller will claim that you have failed to report and/or that a warrant has been issued for your arrest. The caller may claim that a family member has been arrested and you must post bond via electronic payment (apple pay, zelle, chime, venmo, etc).  The scammer could also send you what looks like a copy of the warrant or appearance bond that looks legitimate. This could even include badge numbers, judge signatures, and have the address of the court they are claiming the warrant/bond document to be from. The scammers may even spoof the phone number they are calling you from to appear that they are from the Court or other government agency.

If someone receives such a call, text, or e-mail, they should not provide any personal information, credit card numbers, prepaid cards, or electronic transfers or money in any form. Federal courts do not call anyone and ask for money or personal identifying information over the telephone.  If someone is summoned for jury service, the initial request will be sent via mail, and if someone summoned for jury duty fails to appear, that person will receive correspondence from the Clerk of Court by U.S. Mail, phone, and email, but WILL NOT be asked for a social security number or any form of payment.

The KEY point is that you should never transfer money, provide a card number, purchase gift cards, etc., to anyone on the phone unless you know the person.

Here are some tips to avoid becoming the victim of this type of phone scam:

• Always be suspicious of unsolicited phone calls.
• Never give money or personal information to someone with whom you don’t have ties and did not initiate contact.
• Trust your instincts: if an unknown caller tries to pressure you, or says things that don’t sound right, hang up.  Call the agency that the person was claiming to be an employee of by finding their verified number online, not by using the number provided to you by the caller.
• If concerns remain about the caller’s claims, verify the information with the appropriate law enforcement agency or court officials.

Anyone receiving a jury duty/failure to appear scam phone call, or any other scam, should report it, with a description of the caller and any available caller ID information, to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.gov.