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ID Thieves Use Jury Duty To Scam Victims
Scam Artists Tell Victims They Missed Jury Duty, Get Personal Information

POSTED: 6:58 am PDT July 13, 2006
UPDATED: 11:25 am PDT July 13, 2006

CLEVELAND -- Jury duty is a civic duty that many of us have to serve at some time, but now there's a scam in which identity thefts use that sense of civic duty to prey upon citizens.

In the latest scam, identity thefts bank on the fact that most of us do not want to defy the law and skip out on jury duty, WEWS-TV reported.

Scam artists pretending to be court officials are threatening their victims over the phone with arrest for missing jury duty.

They tell their victims that the only way to fix the mistake is by providing their Social Security number, birth date and sometimes, even a credit card number.

In real life, courts don't operate this way.

Court official Barbera Tercek said that if you are summoned for jury duty, you will receive a questionnaire about six months before.

Court officials said they will never call you for personal information.

They said if you really miss jury duty, you would only get a warning letter, not a phone call.