December 11, 2007 — As a public service to Bucks County residents, the Board of Bucks County Commissioners and Jury Commissioner Deborah Harrison have teamed up with the county Consumer Protection Department to provide educational tips about avoiding an emerging "jury duty scam." This identity theft ruse involves a fraudulent phone call or e-mail from an individual posing as a local court official. The caller claims that the victim failed to report for jury duty, thereby prompting a warrant for their arrest.
Subsequently, when the victim rightfully claims he or she never received a jury duty notification, the scam artist asks for confidential and verification information for alleged fines. "This information includes birth date, Social Security number, credit card numbers, and bank account details," Commissioner Charley Martin noted. "We urge residents not to divulge this sensitive information, because this form of identity theft is a scam."
According to Harrison, this new form of fraud "appeals to the victim's sense of social conscience and fear of prosecution. While 'phishing' usually refers to e-mail scams, similar fraud schemes can be perpetrated over the telephone." In order to guard against this form of identity theft, Bucks County Consumer Protection Director Michael Bannon advises the following precautions:
- Always verify the legitimacy of the caller by asking for official company or agency contact information, then using directory assistance to verify and cross-reference information given;
- No matter how official the caller sounds or an e-mail appears, legitimate businesses or government agencies will not ask for sensitive, personal or financial information in any correspondence (this should always be a red flag);
- Never solely rely on the phone number the caller provides as a means of verifying the authenticity of the call. Many scam artists have accomplices who will answer.
If you receive a call of this nature, please contact the Bucks County Consumer Protection Dept. at 215-348-6079 to report it.
