GREENSBORO, N.C. — An envelope with cut up gift cards was mailed to a Triad courthouse. It was a mystery as to why until the person who mailed the cut cards called the courthouse.
“I just want to verify that you got the gift cards that I cut up. I followed the instructions. I want to make sure I'm not going to be arrested for failing to show up for jury duty,” the caller said.
The person on the phone told Alamance County Sheriff's investigators he lost $2,500. It's money he's never going to get back.
The jury duty scam knows no boundaries. It doesn't stay in one city, one county, or even one state. There are victims everywhere. The scam can be done in different ways, but it always has two common threads: fear of arrest and gift cards.
“The individual identified himself as a lieutenant and told the victim, 'You missed your jury summons,'” explained Byron Tucker of the Alamance County Sherriff’s Office. “The caller said, 'The judge issued an order for your arrest. You need to go out and get gift card sand then call us back.'”
In this situation, the fake lieutenant made it more believable by having a phone number similar to the real sheriff's department and having the address to the courthouse.
Make no mistake, no courthouse or sheriff or police will not call you for missing jury duty. No one is going to arrest you right away. No one takes payment by gift card unless they're a scammer.