Warning: Bogus Phone Calls on Jury Service May Lead to Fraud

In various parts of the United States, citizens are being targeted by phone calls and threatened with prosecution for failing to comply with jury service in federal or state courts.

In the calls, the threat of a fine for shirking jury service is used to coerce those called into providing confidential data, potentially leading to identity theft and fraud. These calls are not from real court officials.

Federal courts do not require anyone to provide any sensitive information in a telephone call. Most contact between a federal court and a prospective juror will be through the U.S. Mail, and any phone contact by real court officials will not include requests for social security numbers, credit card numbers, or any other sensitive information.

Citizens are also being targeted by emails that ask recipients to provide personal identifiers and then email those back to the originator.  While eJuror is a valid national judiciary program, Courts and the eJuror system will never request that personal identification information be sent directly in an email response.  Requests by courts to complete a juror qualification questionnaire would be initiated by formal written correspondence and provided instructions for the juror participant to be authenticated over a secure connection.  If you feel that you have received an improper phone call or email, please call your local clerk’s office for assistance.