From the Desk of Sheriff Jerry Speziale

 

Beware - Jury Duty Scam

Most citizens who receive jury duty summonses respond immediately.  However, some individuals choose to ignore their civic duty and as a result a new identity theft scam has surfaced.

In this scam, the criminal calls your home pretending to be a court official.  The criminal in a threatening manner informs you that there is a warrant for your arrest because you failed to show for jury duty.

 

The caller then claims to be a jury coordinator and attempts to gain your confidence by assisting you with the matter.  If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the criminal asks for your social security number and date of birth so they can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. 

 

Please do not give out any information to anyone posing as a member of the Jury System.  In Passaic County the Jury Management System and Passaic County Sheriff's Department never calls perspective jurors and request such personal information.

 

This (scam) is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the
telephone in attempt to force people into providing personal information while pretending they are members of the court system.

The FBI and the Federal Court System have issued nationwide alerts on their
web sites warning consumers about the fraud.