A jury duty scam is once again preying on Minnesotans as the Polk County Sheriff’s Office issues a warning about fake jury duty phone calls.
Scammers are calling people and pretending to be from Minnesota courts, saying a fine must be paid for missing jury service. The scammer might ask for a credit card number or suggest some other way to pay the fine and avoid jail time. The scammers may demand that people provide payment or divulge private information that the scammer can use for identity theft purposes.
In some cases, they “spoof” the court telephone number so it looks like the call is originating from the court or from a law enforcement agency.
If Minnesotans are summoned for legitimate jury duty, initial contact will always be made by U.S. Mail in the form of a juror summons from a Minnesota district court. Minnesota courts will never contact a person by phone or e-mail and seek payment of fines, Social Security numbers, credit card information, or any other sensitive information in response to missed jury duty.
Any person who receives a suspicious call seeking payment or private data related to missed jury duty is urged to contact their local county sheriff’s office.
