-----Original Message-----
>> From: Tony Valdez Subject: Jury Duty Scam
>>
>> Jury Duty Scam Leads to Identity Theft
>>
>> Here's a new twist scammers are using to commit identity theft: the jury
>> duty scam. Here's how it works:
>>
>> The scammer calls claiming to work for the local court and claims you've
>> failed to report for jury duty. He tells you that a warrant has been
>> issued for your arrest. The victim will often rightly claim they never
>> received the jury duty notification. The scammer then asks the victim
>> for confidential information for "verification" purposes.
>>
>> Specifically, the scammer asks for the victim's Social Security number,
>> birth date, and sometimes even for credit card numbers and other private
>> information -- exactly what the scammer needs to commit identity theft.
>> So far, this jury duty scam has been reported in Michigan, Ohio, Texas,
>> Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington state.
>>
>> It's easy to see why this works. The victim is clearly caught off guard,
>> and is understandably upset at the prospect of a warrant being issued
>> for his or her arrest. So, the victim is much less likely to be vigilant
>> about protecting their confidential information. In reality, court
>> workers will never call you to ask for social security numbers and other
>> private information. In fact, most courts follow up via standard mail
>> and rarely, if ever, call prospective
>> jurors.
>>
>> Action: Never give out your Social Security number, credit card numbers
>> or other personal confidential information when you receive a telephone
>> call. This jury duty scam is the latest in a series of identity theft
>> scams where scammers use the phone to try to get people to reveal their
>> Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal
>> confidential information.
>>
>> It doesn't matter why they are calling -- all the reasons are just
>> different variants of the same scam. Protecting yourself is simple:
>> Never give this info out when you receive a phone call.
>>
>> Officer Tony Valdez, K-63
>> Patrol / Youth Services - SRO (Kennewick High School)
>> Kennewick, WA Police Department
>> 741 South Dayton
>> Kennewick, WA 99336
>> (509) 585-4369 - Dept. Phone
>> (509) 582-9528 - Dept. Fax
>> (509) 585-3248 - School Phone
>>
tony-valdez@ci.kennewick.wa.us valdto@ksd.org>>
>
