A bogus warrant scam is making the rounds in our community again and has hit at least three community members bottom line for thousands of dollars each. The scammers may call, text or email to claim you have a warrant for missing jury duty or a warrant for some other reason. The scammers usually offer up a few details, such as the name of a judge or officer, that appear to check out through a basic Google search. They say that if you pay a fine, you’ll be good. The scammers try to pressure the potential victims to pay immediately.

10 things you should know:

  1. The court or law enforcement will not call you to make payment for a warrant for missing jury duty or for any warrant.
  2. No official court personnel will ask you to meet them on the courthouse steps to make any payment of any kind.
  3. No official representatives of the court will text, call or e-mail to solicit money for any purpose.
  4. The court will not call or email to ask you to make payment for a warrant with a specific form of payment such as a pre-paid credit card, Apple Pay, crypto currency or any other specified form of payment.
  5. The court never texts, calls or e-mails people to get personal information such as their social security number.
  6. Those who receive suspicious texts, e-mails or calls asking for money or pre-paid credit cards should not respond and are advised to report them to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Financial Crimes Unit at Financialcrimes@lvmpd.com and can report scams to be tracked at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/?orgcode=NVEJDC.
  7. The court does want you to respond to an official jury summons when you receive one in the mail.
  8. Citizens fulfilling jury service is one of the most important and crucial aspects of our justice system.
  9. Our judges highly respect and value this service and it can be very informative and rewarding for those who serve on juries.
  10. The District Court website has information on jury service; visit https://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).

There are multiple other scams to be on the lookout for, so protect your financial accounts and personal information.