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Mother really did know best when it came to a 22 year-old former Las Vegas resident who got a call from a scammer posing as an officer, and threatening to throw her in jail for a warrant for missing jury duty. The young woman was scared and mortified, because she took the official sounding call at work on speaker, as coworkers listened. The fraudster offered the young woman, who currently lives in California, a remedy, if she headed to the grocery story to pay $1,000 fine. Bogus warrant scammers usually send their victims to the store to get prepaid credit cards that are untraceable.
On her way to the store, the would-be victim called her mom to convey her plight. The savvy mom immediately got suspicious and did an online search. Her quick search turned up a slew of information on scams aimed at bilking unsuspecting victims out of thousands of dollars for nonexistent warrants. Mom put the brakes on, stopped her daughter from making a big mistake and saved the day.
This scam is not new to our area. Missed jury duty warrant scams and other similar rip-offs have been going on for years in our community and across the country. Cunning con-artists are part of large rackets that have successfully stolen thousands of dollars from each of their many victims, who are fearful and fall prey to the official sounding schemes.
5 facts to ward off warrant scams
- Scams can be reported to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Financial Crimes Unit at Financialcrimes@lvmpd.com
- These jury warrant scams continue to pop up they can be done through phone call or e-mail.
- Be wary of phone calls or emails that look like a jury summons and request important personal information, including: date of birth and social security and driver’s license numbers and threatens a fine or prison for failing to respond.
- The court never calls or e-mails people to get personal information such as their social security number. Those who receive these e-mails or calls should not respond and are advised to contact law enforcement.
- Another key red flag is the request for money. No official representatives of the court will call to solicit money for any purposes.
The District Court website has information on jury service; visit http://www.clarkcountycourts.us/ejdc/juror-information/index.html. Those who have received a summons can reschedule jury service online at https://ejuror.clarkcountycourts.us. A jury phone line is also available at 702-455-4472 (callers should remain on the line for the operator).
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