Scam phone calls on the rise

NEWPORT NEWS – You pick up the phone and the caller says you’ve missed jury duty and must pay a lot of money or be arrested. 

It’s a scam. Some version of this threatening call has been around for years.

The caller identifies himself as being a member of law enforcement or, most recently, with the Newport News Sheriff’s Office.  It’s a way to make the call seem more legitimate.

Often times, the caller knows your name and address, which also makes you believe him.

It’s all designed to scare you and convince you to send money via a Green Dot card, gift card or other untraceable payment method.  You’re told to put money on the card and then call back and give a series of numbers on the back.

In early June, a woman realized it was a scam and recorded the conversation.  She sent it to us to share in hopes of saving someone from being ripped off.  Click here to listen.

Just two weeks later, a couple came to our offices with $1000 in cash.  They said they wanted to pay the fine for missing jury duty and hoped it would save them from being arrested.  They even said they checked the caller’s name against our website and when they found a matching name, they thought the threat was true.

They too had received the scam call.  Fortunately, they came to our offices and they didn’t lose their money.

We called the number and got a recording. It sounds like the same voice from the woman’s conversation. Click here to listen.

In 2017, a woman believed the caller and nearly lost $900.  In that incident, the caller used a number that indicated it belonged to the Newport News Sheriff’s Office, so the woman thought it was legitimate. Thankfully, an alert store clerk convinced her not to send the money and to check with us.

The number had been spoofed. That means your caller ID shows a phone number different than the actual number from which the call was placed.

The technology behind spoofing makes the calls or texts nearly untraceable.

In 2016, a couple showed up at the Newport News City Jail.  The man said he’d received a call from someone identifying himself as a deputy.  The man was told to pay $1500 or he’d be arrested for missing jury duty.  Because they didn’t have the money, he and his wife decided he should turn himself in.

He, of course, was not arrested.  The couple took a lot of convincing that they hadn’t missed jury duty, that they didn’t owe money and that they were victims of a predatory phone call before finally believing us.

That’s how real these calls are.

Here are some tips to help keep you and your loved ones from falling victim to the Jury Duty Scam:

–No one from the Sheriff’s Office or the Courts will ever call you to threaten arrest or demand money for missing jury duty. 

–All communication about jury duty is done through the U.S. mail ONLY.

–Never pay money to someone you do not know.

–If the caller demands even a fairly small amount, avoid the urge to just pay the “bill.”  WAIT 24 hours and talk about the call with a trusted friend or family member during that time.

–If you get a call like this, hang up and report it to the authorities where you live.

–Protecting yourself is the key: Never give out personal information when you receive an unsolicited phone call.

–Click here to get more tips on how to recognize a scam. This information is from the Office of the Virginia Attorney General, Office of Consumer Protection.