June 2006 - Jury Duty Scam - identity theft
Already checked on Snopes.com, yes it's real. 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 scam has surfaced. Fall for it and your identity could be stolen, reports CBS. In this con, someone calls pretending to be a court official who
threateningly says a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you didn't show up for jury duty. 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.
Sometimes they even ask for credit card numbers. Give out any of this information and bingo! Your identity just got stolen.
The scam has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma, Illinois, and Colorado. This (scam) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people
into giving information by pretending they're 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.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp
We've all gotten them and we've all forwarded them. Here's a few places you can check to see if what you are being asked to 'send to everyone you know' is real or not. ;-)
Hoax Busters
Do you think you have been infected with a virus or worm? Click here to have your computer checked online.
- Other helpful sites for safe computing and information include:
- http://www.europe.f-secure.com/v-descs/
- http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/
- http://www.stanford.edu/group/partners/hoaxes.shtml
- http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/infofeed/more.html
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