Jury Duty Scam Call

Disclaimer: I searched this subreddit and saw that someone posted about a similar experience last year, but I wanted to share another warning because this was the most realistic scam I’ve encountered and nearly fell for it. I’d like to share in detail so you can identify any red flags in other scams.

Got a call from a Seattle number which is unusual because I’m originally from California so I never get Washington calls unless they’re important, and said it was the sherriff’s office. He started with “Is this [random name]?” and he kept saying random names, so I just told him my name to make it easier, and he said “Ah yes I see your name in the system” (red flag 1) and that I never showed up for jury duty, and that I should have received a notice in the mail.

He said that I’d have to come to the courthouse to pay a $2000 fine today or get arrested, and once I pay the fine I’ll be reimbursed (red flag 2) since I said I never got the notice in the mail. I said I can’t today and can I do it tomorrow, but he said no and that I’d have to stay on the phone and not hang up (red flag 3) because of some legal reason. I was getting super stressed so I wanted to confirm that they had the right person, especially since he never said my name, and he got super aggressive saying that I already agreed to come and that this audio is recorded and will be used against me in court (red flag 4).

Once I confirmed I was on the way he then started saying that due to them dealing with fraudulent payments recently, they can’t accept personal forms of payment, so I’d have to go to a Walmart kiosk to wire them the money (biggest red flag). This is the point where I put all the red flags together and googled jury duty scam and found others with similar experiences, then I hung up and blocked the number.

So basically the red flags were never saying my name and getting aggressive when asking for confirmation (because he probably didn’t have my name), telling me I’d get reimbursed (to make me more willing to pay), asking for me to stay on the phone or I’d get arrested (to maximize stress and urgency so I wouldn’t have time to research or call the actual courthouse), and then finally asking me to go to Walmart to pay (I’ve heard about other scams paying in gift cards because they’re untraceable, and he only started mentioning Walmart when I was in my car, which was to make me more likely to drive to a random Walmart when I was already driving to the courthouse).

I felt like such an idiot because in the past I’ve watched videos about these phone scams so I wouldn’t think I’d be such a sucker, but when he called and started piling so much stress and fear so quickly, all I could think of was how to fix this as soon as possible. He also sounded like a cop, saying “10-4” and other jargon to make him sound like law enforcement. Can’t believe I fell for that, who says 10-4 to a civilian?

Anyway, please watch out everyone!