Jury Scam-SERIOUS

[bigdog]

Jury Duty Scam DO NOT DELETE WITHOUT READING !

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

And here: http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp
<http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp>

[dantama]

I hope they call me. Without letting on that I know it's a scam, I'll play along in a way that will frustrate the hell out of them thinking that if they just persevere, they'll get the info. They never will, but it would be fun to see how frustrated they get before giving up.

When they don't know that you know, you can really toy with them.

[cactusjack]

This is no different than the people who pretend to be from the IRS calling you to verify your SSN. Still, it works on a certain percentage of the public. Nobody with an official need (banks, IRS, local government) is going to call you or use email to verify that information. They will send it via snail mail.

[Top Cat]

It's pretty simple. NEVER EVER give out your personal info over the phone.

[pirate]

Just about a week ago, there was a story on our local news about a scam that was going on in North Dakota, and it happened to someone in a nearby town. Apparently, someone called a home and said that they were with the Border Patrol at one of the crossings of ND/Canada. They said that they were calling on behalf of the recepient's granddaughter, whose car had broken down at the border crossing. The granddaughter needed $1000 to get her car going, and needed the money wired right away.
The person who fell for this scam wired money right away, never verifying if it was true or not. It wasn't until about two weeks later that she realized she had been scammed, because her granddaughter had been nowhere near Canada!
I know it's wrong to scam people out of their money, but when people fall for something that is so blatantly a scam, I have to dig deep to find a lot of sympathy for them! You just have to step back and use good old common sense!

[markusmaximus]

Here's a guy who has an effective way of dealing with phone solicitors.

[burkazoid]

Originally Posted by Dan Lund

I hope they call me. Without letting on that I know it's a scam, I'll play along in a way that will frustrate the hell out of them thinking that if they just persevere, they'll get the info. They never will, but it would be fun to see how frustrated they get before giving up.

When they don't know that you know, you can really toy with them.

If you do get a chance to do that, make sure you make a recording of that sh*t, and link to it here so we can all enjoy.