Minnesota courts warn of jury duty scams

Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie S. Gildea is reminding Minnesotans to be vigilant of jury duty scams. The Minnesota Judicial Branch has posted information about jury duty scams on its website at www.mncourts.gov/jury. A copy of an informational poster, previously distributed by the Judicial Branch, can be found here.

“Counties and district courts are hearing, again, that scammers are preying on Minnesotans with fake jury duty phone calls,” said Chief Justice Gildea. “Jury duty is an important civic duty. I commend citizens who report for jury service, and urge Minnesotans to learn about and protect themselves from the potentially devastating consequences of these scams.”

Jury duty scams can take many forms. Recently, scammers are calling people and pretending to be from Minnesota courts. In some cases, they “spoof” the court telephone number so it looks like the call is originating from the court or from a law enforcement agency.

In these calls, the scammer says people must pay a fine for missing jury service. The scammer might ask for a credit card number or suggest some other way to pay the fine and avoid jail time. The scammers may demand that people provide payment or divulge private information that the scammer can use for identity theft purposes.

Chief Justice Gildea reminds all Minnesotans that if they are summoned for state jury duty, initial contact will always be made by U.S. Mail in the form of a juror summons from a Minnesota district court. Minnesota courts will never contact a person by phone or e-mail and seek payment of fines, Social Security numbers, credit card information, or any other sensitive information in response to missed jury duty.

Any person who receives a suspicious call seeking payment or private data related to missed jury duty is urged to contact their local county sheriff’s office. People with questions about jury duty service should contact their local district court. Contact information can be found at www.mncourts.gov/jury by clicking on the “County Jury Info” tab.