Scam Basics

The general public and individuals interacting with the federal court may find themselves the target of scammers. Scammers use a variety of methods to contact individuals and use a variety of tactics to make their scam seem legitimate. The end goal of such scams is typically to convince the target that they should pay a fine in order to avoid an arrest warrant from being issued or to ensure that an alleged existing warrant is dismissed/quashed.

How do scams work?

• Most often scammers will contact a target by phone or email informing the target that they failed to appear for a court hearing or jury duty.
• They may attempt to solicit the target for personal identifying information (date of birth, social security number, etc.) or they may already have such information and will share the information they have with the target in an effort to further appear legitimate.
• Often times the scammer will identify themselves as a court employee or a member of law enforcement, and may even use the names of actual employees or law enforcement agents in the target's community.
• The scammer may initiate contact first by phone and then move contact to email, or vice versa. Multiple interactions have the effect of helping to legitimize the interaction and build trust.
• It is important to understand that scammers can spoof phone numbers and email addresses, which may further make the target feel that the communication is legitimate. Scammers may send the target copies of fraudulent arrest warrants or court orders, often times with a forged signature of an actual judge.
• Many times scammers intertwine information from various court systems into one document. For example, the caption (the information in a legal document that identifies the court, case number, and individuals involved in the case) may indicate the case is in the federal court, but the signing judge may be a state court judge.

How can you determine if you are being targeted by a scammer, or if you do in fact have a court matter that needs to be addressed?

• The U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico will never contact you by phone or email and ask or require you to pay a fine without first having you appear before a judge.
  • You will never be asked to pay a fine by a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin, pre-paid gift card, or payment app/digital wallet such as PayPal, Venmo, or CashApp.
  • Certain payments to the court may be made by credit card or debit card, but you will never receive an unsolicited call or email asking you to provide such payment information over the phone.
• If you are summoned for jury duty, you will first be contacted by U.S. mail.
  • The federal court uses voter registration records as the source for its jurors. While you may have moved and missed a jury summons sent to your address of record for voter registration, you will never be asked to pay a fine for failing to appear for jury duty without first appearing before a judge.
  • If you have been contacted regarding jury duty or failing to appear for jury duty, visit our Jurors page to see examples of documents you may receive from the Jury Department and to learn more about the jury process.
• You will never receive an arrest warrant by mail, registered mail, certified mail, or email.
  • Arrest warrants are always executed in person by law enforcement agents.
    • To learn more about arrest warrants and the contents required for an arrest warrant, view the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 4 (link is external).
    • Below are samples of a federal arrest warrant and a typical criminal complaint (used to charge an individual with violation of a crime), but it is important to note that scammers can easily reproduce a document which looks similar.
  • The best way to confirm if an arrest warrant or court order is legitimate is to contact the courthouse directly either in person or by phone. Please refer to our Contact Us page and our Court Locations page for our current contact information.
• If you have been contacted about an alleged pending court matter, please ensure you make note of which court it is in.
  • The U.S. court system is separated into local (municipal, magistrate, or metropolitan), state judicial district (ex., First Judicial District), and federal court systems. It is important to note that each operates independently from each other.
  • If it is not clear which court your alleged pending matter is in, this may be an indication that you are the target of a scam. Scammers often do not use the correct names of courts when communicating with their target. We will gladly attempt to assist you in determining which court to contact if this is the case.
  • The information on this page is for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico (i.e,, federal court) only. You may find additional information on New Mexico local and state district courts at their website (link is external).

What should you do if you have already provided personal identifying information or payment information to a scammer?

• It is a crime for anyone to falsely represent himself or herself as a federal court official and such an offense is taken very seriously by the federal judiciary.
• Persons who have fallen victim to such a scam should contact the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) at (505) 889-1300, select option #1 when prompted, and report the incident.
• Scammers often conceal their identity in sophisticated ways and are often located outside the United States. This can make investigation difficult and lost funds often cannot be recovered. However, it is still helpful for the FBI to receive as much information as possible regarding these type of scams as they do at times result in arrests.

Sample Federal Arrest Warrant	Sample Federal Criminal Complaint

Additional information on Federal Court scams and doing business with the federal judiciary can be found at www.uscourts.gov.

View the most recent Press Release regarding recently reported federal court scams in New Mexico.