Fraudsters targeting Maricopa County residents in jury fine scam

PHOENIX — Maricopa County residents have been the target of fraudsters in a scam involving bogus jury fines in recent months, officials said Monday.

Scammers have called residents in Arizona’s most populous county and demanded they pay fines and fees for missing jury service, according to a press release from the Maricopa Superior Court Jury Office.

In most instances, the scammers threaten jail time if residents did not pay the fines through a prepaid gift card. The jury office will never call people demanding any sort of payment, officials say.

“The scams are very sophisticated and believable,” Jury Administrator Matthew Martin said in the release. “The fraudsters may pose as law enforcement, even going as far as using the identities of actual officers and changing their caller IDs to make the scam more believable.

How can Maricopa County residents protect against jury fine scam?

Officials ask that people who are called by the scammers and are cognizant of the ploy should write down the phone number of the caller and reach out to police.

Nobody should ever give out personal information or agree to provide any payment.

Metro Phoenix residents can verify their jury service status by calling 602-506-5879.

“If someone were to miss jury service the Court would issue a failure to appear notice through the U.S. Mail, and potential jurors are asked to reschedule jury service for a later date,” Martin said.

How much of an impact have scams had?

U.S. residents lost $1.3 billion last years to scams, mostly from fraudsters pretending to be from the government or tech support, according to the FBI.

In Arizona, victims lost nearly $325 million in scams last year.

Follow @KTAR923