An old trick to steal your money is coming around again

It’s a new play on an old ploy — the jury duty scam.

And people are falling for it all over the country.

I know, when you hear how it works it’s easy to say, “I’d never be fooled by anything like that.”

But people have — even a former police officer. So it must sound different when you’re on the receiving end of this old trick.

Here’s how it works. You get a call from a “deputy” who tells you that there’s a warrant being issued for your arrest for failing to appear for jury duty. But…you can pay the fine now and avoid going to jail.

To stay out of the pokey. you need to pay up with a prepaid cash card — sometimes called a “green dot” card.

And these crooks don’t even need the card to get your cash. All they need is the number on the back and poof — your money is gone with no way to get it back.

One victim described how she got a call from a “lieutenant” from her local police department, saying they were putting a bench warrant out for her husband for “failure to appear for jury duty.”

It was late Friday afternoon and the caller said he would wait for her at the courthouse to “cover his bond.”

She was suspicious, but still scared her husband would be taken to jail if she didn’t pay up.

So she got the card and read the number over the phone. And that was all that was needed to steal her $495.

Officials say that it’s very unlikely for a warrant to be issued for missing jury duty. And of course, you would never be told to pay a fine or bond with a cash card number over the phone.

When they finally catch these criminals I sure hope that some of the people they stole money from are on jury duty for that case.

Now that would really be divine justice!

Sources:
“Montgomery County sheriff’s office warns about jury duty scam” November 14, 2014, wdbj7.com