Beware of "missed payment" jury duty scams, Charleston sheriff's office warns

The Charleston County Sheriff’s Office is warning residents to be mindful of any suspicious-sounding phone calls from law enforcement agencies or other government offices demanding missed payments.

Specifically, the sheriff’s office is advising citizens that fraudsters have begun sending fake court documents via email to bolster their claims, according to a press release sent Tuesday.

“The public needs to be aware that those documents are false,” said Capt. Roger Antonio, a spokesman for CCSO, in a statement. “Citizens should be cautioned that any phone call from a subject claiming to be law enforcement demanding payment over the phone is a scam.”

“We’ve had an uptick the last couple of weeks,” Roger told the City Paper in an email. “They’ve quieted down for a couple of months, but they have resurfaced.”

Scammers will sometimes use the names of real police officers or government employees to legitimize their lies, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Some adept swindlers might even employ a good-cop, bad-cop strategy with unsuspecting citizens, pretending to be good guys who will “review the file” or “make things right” for a fee — or bad guys who will use an arrest warrant against you unless you pay up.

“The National Center for State Courts says court officers will never call or email you and require payment for failing to appear for jury duty,” the FTC writes. “If you get a summons for jury duty and don’t go, you might get a letter telling you to come to court on [a] certain date to explain why you missed jury duty.”

You can check out the FTC’s most recent scam alerts here.

Take a look at an example of a fake jury duty document below:
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