King County Sheriff warns about jury scam
Published 2:26 pm Thursday, October 1, 2015
Editor’s note: the following is a press release from the King County Sheriff’s Office:
There have been reports of a large amount of fraudulent calls allegedly coming from the King County Sheriff’s Office.
The calls state there is a warrant out for your arrest for not showing up for jury duty or mention nonpayment of back taxes.
The Sheriff’s Office does not solicit for funds over the phone under any circumstances.
Criminals are not able to use false or “spoofed” numbers to make it appear that the call is coming from the Sheriff’s Office phone number or from the courts.
If someone contacts you and tells you there is a warrant out for your arrest because you missed jury duty or that you owe back taxes, this is a scam. Discontinue the call immediately.
The caller then tells you to pay hundreds of dollars to avoid being arrested.
They use high pressure tactics to get you panicked and are very professional sounding.
If they get you to agree to pay the money, they will tell you to purchase a cash card.
Once you purchase the card they will have you call them back with the special pin number on the back of the card.
Then within seconds the funds will be transferred to their account.
They will then tell you to go down to the King County Courthouse and sign up for jury duty and that King County will reimburse you with a cashier’s check for the amount you paid them.
The King County Sheriff’s Office or the courts will never call you for money on a warrant or tell you in advance they are coming to arrest you.
If you are a victim of this scam, you may file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission at http://www.fcc.gov/complaints.
If you received a false call and actually sent funds and wish to file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission you can do so at http://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/Information.
For more information on this topic visit the U.S. Courts at http://www.uscourts.gov/FederalCourts/JuryService/JurorScams.aspx.
