SCAM ALERT– Sheriff’s Office Reports Warrant and Jury Duty Scams

The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office has issued an alert on its Facebook page about warrant and jury duty scams against Snohomish County citizens. The alert notes that the Sheriff’s Office receives reports of these scams on a weekly basis.

The scammers try to intimidate potential victim into paying money to have a warrant lifted or from being arrested due to missing jury duty, often through a phone call. An apparent trend is to demand that you pay by Bitcoin cryptocurrency.

As with many scams the scammers pretend to be someone they are not. In this case, they may pretend to be from the Sheriff’s Office or from the county court. Last year both the Sheriff’s Office and the Snohomish County Superior Court issued separate scam alerts for scammers pretending to be from their organizations.

The scammers immediately present you with a problem, you have a fine levied against you or at worst the cops are coming to arrest you.

The scammers pressure you to act quickly, without thinking or consulting with friends or family. They want you emotional so that you will not think logically or analytically. They also want to isolate you so that they have control.

And to get out of your “problem” you pay. The scammers want you to pay in a way that cannot be traced or reversed. Using a crypto currency has been popular lately with scammers. Like with gift cards, wire or money transfers, crypto currencies are extremely difficult to reverse.   

Understand that local police, courts, or other governmental entities will not call you to demand an immediate payment for a fine or to get out of an arrest warrant. Police are not in the habit of notifying people who have warrants against them.

The Sheriff’s Office says that people report giving money to these scams. While it seems that the warrant and jury duty scams are well publicized, people are still victimized by scammers.

If you receive a scam call like this, hang up!

Also, report the scam to the Sheriff’s Office and to the FBI at www.ic3.gov.

And please, pass this information to your friends, family, and coworkers. The more people who know about scams, the better we all can defend against scams.

 

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office:

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=959726349514130&set=a.226070289546410

 

Federal Trade Commission:

https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2024/09/did-you-get-call-or-email-saying-you-missed-jury-duty-and-need-pay-its-scam?utm_campaign=did_you_get_a_call_or_ema&utm_content=1726496692&ut

https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2024/03/did-someone-send-you-bitcoin-atm-its-scam?utm_campaign=did_someone_send_you_to_a&utm_content=1715093861&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook,twitter

 

South Snohomish County Crime Watch:

https://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2023/04/scam-update-scammers-pretend-to-be.html

https://ssnoccrimewatch.blogspot.com/2023/08/scam-update-jury-duty-scam-and-watch.html