Two reports of scams in one day, and this time I was on the other end of the phone.

This one is even worse than the ‘Can You Hear Me?’ scam. Someone claiming to represent the Lubbock County Court System calls you and tells you that you failed to report for jury duty. Then the "fun" starts. They tell you that if you don’t pay a fine immediately over the phone, you will have a warrant issued for your arrest.

I got one of these calls late Friday night, and I knew it was a scam based on the phone number alone. (But the heavy Indian accent didn’t help their cause, either.) It was an 806 number, but it traced back to Amarillo. All Lubbock city and county numbers will start with 806-775.

I told the scammer to go right ahead and have a warrant issued. They called me a few choice words and hung up. I caught them in the act and they didn’t like it.

One great website you can use to see if a number if a possible scam number is 800notes.com. You simply type in the number and it will tell you if the number has been reported as a scam.

I have included the text from a press release from the County on this issue:

It has come to our attention that individuals are receiving calls from individuals claiming to be from the local courts indicating these individuals have failed to report for jury duty. The scammer tells the person they will have a warrant issued for their arrest if they do not pay a fine immediately.

“About once a year, we will receive calls from the public about this scam, and we hope each year that someone will not fall victim. While the judiciary takes jury service seriously, we will never ask for your credit or debit card information over the phone if you fail to appear for jury service” said Dean Stanzione, Director of Court Administration.

If individuals receive these calls or emails, they should attempt to gather as much information as possible to make a report with the police department. They should try to get the person’s name, the phone number they are calling from and ask for a call back number as that can be different from the number the are calling from.

Citizens are encouraged to contact the District Clerk’s Office Jury Staff at 806.775.1369 or 806.775.1581 if to confirm if they missed jury duty." 

Be safe out there, folks!

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