SCAM ALERT - Protect Your Identity!
This has been verified by the FBI (their link is also included below).
It is spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call. Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced.
The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity was just stolen.
The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma , Illinois , and Colorado . This (swindle) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system.
The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.
Check it out here: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm
And here: http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp
posted by LindaWright @ 8:37 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Good advice and trust me, the courts notify by mail they never call your house.
NEVER, NEVER give out you social security number out to someone who calls you on the phone. If you must give personal information on the phone when you make the call, be sure do do so on a land line. Do not give out personal information on a cell, mobile, or portable phone. People with scanners can listen in on your calls on cell, mobile and portable house phones. that is how many scammers steal our private information.
If you ger an unsolicited caller insisting that they must have your information, insist they give you a phone number so you may call them back. Most scammers will not give you a return phone number. This is a sure tip that they are not legitimate. Regardless, report these calls to the proper authorities and the news media so they may warn others of the scams. It's shameful that these scammers will prey on the elderly.
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