Summons (Jury Duty) Scam

In this episode, a woman is almost taken in by the Jury Duty Scam. It's easy to see why. She received a call and the caller ID was spoofed to say it was the Sheriff's Department. The scammers identified themselves by using names of real sheriffs and judges. Plus, the victim occasionally received subpoenas to testify, because she was a medical expert--making it even more believable. They told her that someone had signed for the subpoena and gave her the date and time that it happened. They threatened that if she didn't pay a $10,000 fine immediately, she would go to jail. Initially, the scare tactics worked. She followed their instructions and went to stores to purchase money packs to give them. The first store limited the number of money packs that she could buy so she went to a second store. Here, the Vons employee told her she was being scammed. Then the woman did something very right. She told the scammer that she was driving to the sheriff's department and she did just that. When she arrived, the Sheriffs confirmed that it was a familiar scam. Scammers use fear tactics to scare their victims. Deputy District Attorney Vicki Johnson says that police officers and sherriffs will never call and threaten to arrest you if you miss jury duty. If you get a call like this, don't trust the caller ID. Tell the scammer you'll call them back and then look up the number yourself. Good News! A group of people who were stealing mail were recently arrested. They were soliciting crooks to help them through social media! Vicki reminds listeners to avoid using mailboxes to mail out their bills. Get a locked mailbox on your own property. Don't use the blue bins. Instead, walk your mail into the post office and set it on the counter.