(Boise, ID) – Idaho Court Officials are warning the public of increasingly sophisticated scams involving jury duty summons. Recently, there has been an uptick in scammers contacting members of the community pretending to be law enforcement officers or court staff and threatening that individuals pay a fine to resolve an outstanding warrant for failing to appear for jury duty.
These scammers are skilled in making these calls appear to be real and use publicly available information about court officials, making the schemes difficult to detect. Anyone who receives a suspicious phone call regarding jury summons should tell the caller they will go to the jury office at the courthouse to verify the information.
“A scammer called me while I was at the United States Courthouse. I was amazed at how legitimate the caller sounded,” Stephen Kenyon, Clerk of the Courts for the United States Courts, District of Idaho said. “If you receive a phone call like this, be extremely careful and verify the legitimacy of the caller by contacting the courthouse yourself.”
“The criminals behind jury service schemes are professionals who are very talented at impersonating court personnel and creating a sense of urgency to convince people to pay phony fines,” said U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit. “‘Don’t Trust – Just Verify’ is a great mantra to keep in mind when you get one of these calls. I am grateful to our partners in Ada County and the United States Courts for encouraging members of the public to contact them directly when questions arise.”
Please keep these few tips in mind:
- Do your research and verify first. If you question whether you should have responded to jury duty, hang up and call the appropriate jury office and confirm. Do not call any numbers provided by the potential scammers.
- Never give sensitive information or payment information over the phone. Officials with Ada County and, the United States Courts, will never ask you to make a payment over the phone in relation to court services or jury services.
- Government officials will not ask you to resolve a fine or judgment via payment using gift cards or cryptocurrency.
If you have questions regarding these scams, please contact the Ada County Clerk’s Office, the U.S. District Court of Idaho, the United States Attorney’s Office or the Ada County Sheriff’s Office.
Ada County Clerk Trent Tripple, Clerk of the Court Stephen Kenyon, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit and Lieutenant Ryan Wilkie with the Ada County Sheriff’s Office will be available for comment and interviews regarding the jury scam, Monday, September 23, 2024, from 1pm – 2pm. Please see the attached Media Advisory for details.