by Debbie Burke
Jury duty scams have been around for a couple of decades. Despite frequent warnings by law enforcement, the FBI, and consumer protection groups, jury duty scams continue to snare people. According to the FTC, last year they cost victims an estimated $790 million.
Scammers send an email or text message that looks as if it originates from a court. The notice claims you didn’t appear for jury duty as ordered.
Contacts are also made by phone with the caller claiming to be a U.S. Marshal. The caller ID appears genuine from a real court number. However, the number is spoofed.
The email, text, or phone call threatens arrest unless you immediately pay a fine.
They demand payment by gift card, wire transfer, or other suspicious methods.
All these payment forms have one thing in common: any money you send disappears into the scammer’s hands, untraceable and never to be recovered.
Today’s True Crime Thursday case has a twist: the accused scammer sent the demand from inside a Georgia prison.
In January of this year, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Tampa, Florida, indicted Anthony Sanders (AKA “Slanga”), 28, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the case of a Sarasota, Florida woman who was scammed out of more than $12,000 in a jury duty fraud. Also indicted was Sanders’ suspected accomplice, Marlita Andrews, 28, of Macon, Georgia.
According to the complaint, Sanders used an illegally-obtained cell phone to call the victim from inside the prison where he’s incarcerated. He purportedly claimed to be a U.S. Marshal and told the woman she needed to immediately pay a fine for missing jury duty or she would be arrested. He allegedly instructed her to go to a “Bonding Transition Center” and deposit $12,000 in cash to the machine.
Despite an official-sounding name, there is no such thing as a “bonding transition center.” The machine was in fact a bitcoin ATM used to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.
After the victim deposited the money, it was routed to a bitcoin wallet Andrews owned, then quickly transferred to other accounts and disappeared.
Sanders reportedly instructed Andrews to buy pre-paid cell phones that were illegally smuggled by drone into the prison and directed her where to send the profits.
The FTC warns that scammers sound convincing because they often know personal details about victims like date of birth, social security number, and home address.
Because of the epidemic of cyberhacking and identity theft, unfortunately our personal information is widely available on the dark web.
Courts use postal mail to make their initial contact about jury duty, NOT text or email. They may later communicate electronically but usually only after setting up a password-protected account.
If you receive an email, text, or phone call from someone claiming to be a marshal, verify the communication by going to the court’s official website. Do NOT click on links or attachments in the email or text. Report suspected fraud to law enforcement.
If convicted, Sanders and Andrews face up to 20 years in prison. At least Sanders won’t be inconvenienced by moving since he’s already there.
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TKZers – have you or someone you know been targeted by the jury duty scam?
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Yep. A friend of mine got such a call the other day. The guy claimed there was an arrest warrant out on her because she’d not answered a “subpoena” to appear for jury duty in federal court. He even claimed she’d earlier signed a summons delivered by two uniformed officers (never happens, as you point out. These come in the mail). She asked some pointed questions and got some implausible answers, and then hung up.
Glad your friend was too smart to fall for it, Jim. Scammers sling official-sounding legalese that intimidates a lot of people who are not knowledgeable about how the system actually works.
Somehow the scammers missed the jury duty scam when targeting my mother. The Publisher’s Clearinghouse, Won a new car, Various charities, all scams. All told, mom was hit for over $125,000.
Aw, Alan, that’s horrible. These thieves target older people b/c they/we tend to be more trusting. Unfortunately they’re often so convincing that, even when presented with proof of a scam, victims simply can’t believe it.
That’s really scary, Alan.
What a case, Debbie. That poor woman.
A friend just received the jury duty scam. I keep receiving the EZ-pass scam via text and email. Some look so real, they force me to check my account to verify (by going straight to EZpassNH.org).
Sue, yesterday I read about an Australian bank that has an app where the recipient of a suspicious text can send a screenshot directly to the bank to verify whether or not the message is legit. I hope more businesses will adopt similar security verification.
Never heard of the jury duty scam or even a bitcoin ATM, but I get almost daily texts that say something like, we have reviewed your resume and feel you are a great fit for our “company”. Click the link for more info…
Scammers work way too hard in my opinion. They could just get a job at Walmart…
🙂
Deb, employment scams are another insidious trick that snares many unsuspecting job seekers.
Honest work is boring. Job perks from scamming are often the thrill of getting away with crime.
Thanks for another great warning, Debbie. I hadn’t heard of this scam before, but I guess the crooks have to keep coming up with new ways to separate decent people from their money.
I think prisons should implement the Scam Sandwich menu. Prisoners can order anything they want from the menu (e.g., filet mignon, encrusted salmon), but all they ever get is a bologna sandwich—without the bread.
Kay, the variety of scams is hard to keep up with. AI is only making them easier for crooks and more convincing.
I follow a watchdog site by attorney Steve Weisman: https://scamicide.com/
He posts daily warnings about new twists.
I didn’t know about this scam. Thanks for the tip off.
You’re welcome, Brian. There’s a million of them out there.
Back when we had a landline I was hit up by a jury duty scam, but was obvious it was a scam. I had done jury duty for our county a couple of years earlier, and knew the first point of contact was postal mail.
Forewarned is forearmed.
Any of these legal scams involving supposed government action reveal themselves by not sending a letter but rather attempting to panic you into giving money via phone, text or email.
The bane of my existence this year has been the toll road text scam. Note to scammers, while they are in the works, we currently have no toll roads in Oregon.
“Forewarned is forearmed.” So true, Dale.
No toll roads in Montana either. Wonder how many people fall for that in states with no toll roads.
Thanks for such a useful blog. I haven’t had the jury duty scam, but I get the EZ Pass scam at least once a month.
You’re welcome, Elaine. Yeah, the EZ pass is a popular one, even in states w/o toll roads, as Dale noted.