Identity theft criminals use jury duty scam to get data

Law enforcement officials are warning of a new twist in identity theft: callers posing as U.S. court employees to advise individuals of their arrest warrant for failure to report to jury duty.

According to snopes.com, victims who receive these threats are clearly caught off-guard and often protest they have never received mail notification

The callers will ask for information from the victims to "verify" their Social Security numbers, birth dates and credit card numbers. Unwary persons typically want to immediately straighten the matter out and proceed to give the thieves all the information they requested.

Such an incident snopes.com calls a "social engineering" scam- a technique which preys upon people's unquestioning acceptance of authority and willingness to cooperate in order to extract from them sensitive information.

The jury duty scam has been reported in nine states with variations on the crime. Some residents are called and asked for birth dates and Social Security numbers to assemble a pool of jurors for selection in upcoming trials.

In other states, scammers ask for home addresses and bank accounts allegedly for reimbursement purposes to directly deposit the jurors' $40-a-day stipends.

The FBI has warned that the judicial system does not contact people by telephone and ask for personal information such as your Social Security number, date of birth or credit card numbers. Those contacted should not provide any personal or confidential information to these individuals.

Snopes.com has listed some warnings on how to avoid falling prey to "Jury Duty Scams":

+Court workers will not telephone to say you've missed jury duty and need to prescreen those who might be selected to serve on them. About the only time you will hear by telephone (rather than by mail) about any jury duty will be after you've mailed your completed questionnaire and even then only rarely.

+Do not give your bank account, social security or credit card numbers over the phone if you did not initiate the call.

+Examine your credit card and bank account statements every month, keeping vigilant for any unauthorized charges. Immediately challenge items you did not approve.

The FBI asks that if you've been contacted and have given out personal information, contact your local FBI office. Local FBI field office telephone numbers can be found in the front of your local telephone directory or on www.fbi.gov