Scam Phone Calls: Exploiting Fears of Missing Jury Duty

Residents are required to show up for jury duty. In Texas, a failure to answer the jury summons is subject to a contempt action that is punishable by a fine from $100 to $1,000. A failure to attend court without a reasonable excuse or filing a false exemption from jury service is subject to a fine from $100 to $500.

While states vary on their penalties for no-shows, it is generally known that jury duty is not optional when summoned. This is likely a reason for the controversy surrounding jury pay and the negative perception of being called for jury duty.

While the public often knows there are penalties for not attending jury duty, they may not know how much and whether they are enforced. In truth, it is usually rare for penalties to be enforced for missing jury duty. For example, a study by The Dallas Morning News and SMU Law Review found in mid-February of 2000 that only 2,214 residents showed up for jury duty out of 13,612 summoned. With the number of no-shows so high, the county does not have the resources to chase each person who does not appear. Unfortunately, there are innocent residents who do not know that.

A growing phone call scam is to call law abiding citizens and falsely accuse them of missing jury duty, telling them they can only avoid an arrest by paying a “bond” over the phone. Recently, the Fort Worth police are warning residents of this scam as they have been getting several complaints of voicemails or phone calls of a person stating they are from the “warrants” unit requesting a “bond” payment. Dallas County has also had to deal with this scam in the recent past as well. In fact, in 2016, a man pretending to be a Dallas County Sheriff’s deputy scammed a resident out of $16,000 over the phone.

For years, all across then nation, counties outside Texas are also warning their residents of the jury duty phone call scam. The county officials remind residents that they never ask for payment for fines or judgements to be paid over the phone. However, the scammers unfortunately catch many residents while they are vulnerable, and they use fear to receive money over the phone.

The scammers find ways to make their claims seem real. They are often able to mask their own number and pretend to be calling from a legitimate county phone number. In some instances, they may email fake court documents to support their claim, which is a very new innovation by scammers.

Since scammers do not want the money transfer to be traced back to them, they often ask for payment via gift cards, which should be an immediate red flag for the resident on the phone. In fact, they will usually request the balance across multiple gift cards (for example, in one case the scammer asked for twenty $100 Google Play and eight $100 Apple gift cards for a total of $2800 in fines).

Unfortunately, the jury duty scam is likely to continue and only get more pervasive if it continues to work.  Hopefully counties will find effective ways to communicate with their residents to protect them.