I was doing some research on a report of a telephone scam that involves fraudulent requests for information based on a “Jury Duty” failure to appear. I seems that the caller tries to bully the unsuspecting victim into giving up their social security number and other important private information so they can have a “bench warrant” rescinded for failure to appear. This telephone scam has been reported by the FBI and can be reviewed at: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june06/jury_scams060206.htm .
I looked it up, it’s from June 2006. Good information provides the best defense against this kind of scam. Ask the caller if you can call the local court jurisdiction in order to verify the “bench warrant” and the caller will generally go away.
I found another more recent scam that is using email as it’s delivery mechanism.. From the FBI web site January 2007.
A new scam cropping up in e-mail boxes across the country is preying not on recipients’ greed or good intentions, but on their fears. The scam e-mail, which first appeared in December, threatens to kill recipients if they do not pay thousands of dollars to the sender, who purports to be a hired assassin.
“This is a hoax, so do yourself a favor and don’t respond,”
In one case, a recipient responded that he wanted to be left alone and threatened to call authorities. The scammer, who was demanding an advance payment of $20,000, e-mailed back and reiterated the threat, this time with some personal details about the recipient—his work address, marital status, and daughter’s full name.
For more information on scams, visit our Common Fraud Schemes page. IC3 also has information on Internet crime schemes and prevention tips. (FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) – just so you know what the acronym means)
To report Internet crime, contact IC3 or your local FBI field office.
As always, safe surfing,Darrell Mishler
