Sheriff Mark Bowen
Hamilton County Sheriff Mark Bowen is once again reminding area residents of a pervasive telephone scam that leaves victims open to theft and identity theft. The jury duty scam, along with the IRS scam, tax warrant scam, relative in need scam, home improvement scam, and others, come and go in cycles but all require potential victims to be aware of the issues.
The jury duty scam works like this:
The scammer calls claiming to work for the local court of Sheriff’s office and informs the victim of a failure to report for jury duty. The victim is told that an arrest warrant has been issued for failure to report for jury duty. The victim will rightly claim that a jury duty notification was never received. The scammer will then either pressure the victim into sending money by prepaid credit card or wire transfer to take care of the warrant or ask the victim for confidential information to “verify” the warrant. Caller ID may show the call originating from an official number and the scammer may provide a callback number.
Arrest warrants in Hamilton County are never served by telephone. To verify an active warrant, call 317-776-9800, option 2. Do not assume Caller ID or a callback number are legitimate. Scammers may also use names of local law enforcement officers or court officials to make the call seem more realistic. Do not be tempted to give out private information such as date of birth, social security number, or credit card numbers over the phone. Never be pressured into making a hasty decision over the telephone and always think twice before sending money by prepaid card or wire transfer. Transactions like these are nearly impossible to trace once sent.
Anyone receiving a potential scam call may contact Hamilton County Communications at (317) 773-1282 to be connected to the appropriate law enforcement agency.