Sacramento County Superior Court is warning area residents of a potentially costly jury scam.
Listen: Ginger Durham, Jury Commissioner for Sacramento Superior Court
Several states, including California, have issued public warnings about phone calls from people claiming to be court officials or law enforcement.
The “jury duty phone scam” starts with a call from someone identifying themselves as an officer of the court who convinces the victim that they failed to report for jury duty. In some cases, the victim is instructed to buy debit cards and read the numbers to the caller to pay a fine for failing to appear, or a warrant will be issued for their arrest.
Past or prospective Sacramento County jurors are never contacted by phone for failure to report to jury duty, Durham said.
“All communication regarding failure to serve jury duty is done via U.S. mail,” Durham added. “No court staff or Sacramento County Sheriff’s staff will ask past or prospective jurors to pay a fine or provide financial details including credit card numbers, bank account, social security numbers or other personal information.”
Anyone who receives communication requesting personal information, is advised to contact the fraud unit of their local law enforcement agency immediately as well the jury office of their local court.