[Indy-Guy]

This has been verified by the FBI (their link is also included below). Please pass this on to everyone in your email address book. It is spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call. Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced.



The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity was just stolen.



The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma , Illinois, and Colorado . This (swindle) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system. The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.



Check it out here: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm

[JRietz]

Originally Posted by Indy Guy

Check it out here: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206

The original link is missing the .htm. Here's the correct one:

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm

Also, please note this is from June 2006.

[jtdraig]

Scam artists proliferate in many ways. This one is only one of many. Fighting this is fairly simple...NEVER give out your social security number over the phone FOR ANY REASON. NEVER respond to a Bank, Paypal, EBAY or ANY Financial Institution email asking for personal information. If you think it is your bank, call them and ask. Do not be intimidated by a cold call from a Jury coordinator, period. Hang up and call the Jury coordinator in your County but DON"T GIVE OUT YOUR PERSONAL FINANCIAL INFORMATION OR SSN UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. If you follow this rule at all times, you won't have to worry about what kind of scams are out there on the phone or email.