Ever served on Jury duty? If so, you might have seen the Judge issue something called a bench warrant for people who failed to appear. Now some people are using this fact as a basis for a jury scam.

The way it works is that the scammer phones you and informs you of the warrent. You, of course, never received a summons, but might assume you missed it. The scammer demands your social security number to verify that you were never sent a summons (or they might demand a credit card number.)

Give it to them and your identity has just been stolen.

Snopes.com has the rundown of the scam.

So if you get a call from one of these people, or anyone who demands a social security number or credit info, get their name and number, and their supervisor’s name.

Tell them you will call the their office and follow up. You’ll also report them to their supervisor for being rude. Of course, the name and number they give you, if any, will be phoney. They might even hang up on you. Good.

You can look up the Jury offices (or whatever other office they claim to be associated with) in the yellow pages and give that office a call to verify your status, if you’re really concerned.

Never give out your social security or credit card info to anyone who calls, unless you were expecting the call and you have reason to believe they’re legit.

If they are legit you can always call them to provide any necessary info. Use the number off your bill to make the call if you suspect anything.

Same with email, by the way. Never respond to an email asking for identity data.

KM