You think we’ve been around the block a few times and we’ve heard everything, right? Well today I received an ezine that talked about a jury duty fraud. I’d never heard of it, so I decided to check it out.
Seems this fraud has been around since like 2005. Here’s the story –
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This has been verified by the FBI
so please pass this on to everyone in
your email address book.
It is spreading fast so be prepared
should you get this call.
Most of us take those summonses for
jury duty seriously, but enough people
skip out on their civic duty, that a new
and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced.
The caller claims to be a jury coordinator.
If you protest that you never received
a summons for jury duty, the scammer
asks you for your Social Security number
and date of birth so he or she can verify
the information and cancel the arrest
warrant.
Give out any of this information and bingo;
your identity was just stolen.
The fraud has been reported so far in
11 states, including Oklahoma , Illinois ,
and Colorado .
This (swindle) is particularly insidious
because they use intimidation over the
phone to try to bully people into giving
information by pretending they are with
the court system.
The FBI and the federal court system have
issued nationwide alerts on their web sites,
warning consumers about the fraud.
I hope this helps you …stay safe!
Dani M
http://www.GuruBusters.com
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And my research found that they target seniors. To most of us, it would be common sense that they would already have our social security number, right? And at most, for ‘verification’ purposes, they only ask for the last 4 digits.
But since I had never heard of this, I thought it would be a good thing to pass it on so you can warn your elderly family members and friends to never, ever give out their social security number.
Have a safe day!
Carole