FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The United States District Court for the District of New Mexico has recently been notified of individuals being targeted with a new jury phone scam. The targets have been told a warrant is out for their arrest for missing jury service. The scammer may ask for personal identifiers or for a payment to be made to quash the warrant, but this request is not always made during the initial call.
This scam call is fairly sophisticated, and the caller may use the name of an actual employee of the U.S. District Court. A call back to the scammer’s phone number may even connect the victim to a voicemail box that indicates the victim has reached the voicemail of the employee referenced during the initial call. The U.S. District Court will never ask for sensitive information in an unsolicited phone call and will not assess a fine or penalty for failing to appear for jury service without first having the person appear before a judge. Initial notifications of selection to serve jury duty and requests to complete jury duty qualification questionnaires are always initiated by formal written correspondence through U.S. Mail.
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 receiving such a telephone call should not provide the requested information or pay any fines and should contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at (505) 889-1300, selecting option #1 when prompted, to report the incident. In the District of New Mexico, the individual may also contact the United States District Court at 505-348-2000 to verify that there are no matters pending before the court in their name.
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