Imagine this: you answer your phone and the caller claims to be with the police and they are looking to arrest those who have missed jury duty. They claim you are one of them. The only way to avoid jail right there and then is to pay your missed jury duty fines over the phone. What do you do? We’ve previously reported on a bookkeeping scams involving the IRS, but this one is new to us.
The scam assumes that whoever answers the phone is unsure about whether or not they have missed jury duty. Even those saints who always appear when ordered to may not know if there was a letter or summons that went unopened. Add that that the panic of an imminent arrest, and it can be easy to see why so many people have paid. It is also easy to see how it is so lucrative.
What you should know: THIS IS A SCAM! DO NOT PAY! DO NOT TALK! HANG UP AND CALL THE REAL POLICE!
More Details on the Bookkeeping Jury Scam
The scammers tell whomever is unfortunate enough to pick up the phone that officers in their neighborhood will be dispatched immediately to their property if these “missed jury” fines are not paid immediately. The con men are likely to demand that you make a single, lump payment with a prepaid debit card. This is because they cannot be cancelled or traced, ie something a real court, cop, etc. would never do. Law enforcement representatives in Houston and Harris County never make calls to demand payment of any type.
“Variations of this scam are sweeping across the nation. The criminals are threatening and sound official, and they often use the real names of local or federal law enforcement officials,” said Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Houston Field Office Perrye K. Turner of this bookkeeping scam. Turner also encouraged the recipients of such calls to not be fooled, and that each of these cases were fraud.
What to Do if You Receive a Suspicious Call
You should never provide a payment, credit card numbers, or personal information such as Social Security number or even birthday over the phone. If you have a payment to make, you call them, not the other way around. Sheriff Ron Hickman has confirmed that no city, state, or federal government agency would ever request a payment via any prepaid debit card or gift card. All citizens and residents should take every precaution to keep their personal and financial information secured.
Those who have missed jury duty and fear prosecution should know that the authorities would not come after them in this way. Only a court of law could impose any fines for missing jury duty, and you would have been present.
While these bookkeeping scams typically asked for a couple hundred bucks per victim, the ask has grown into the thousands of dollars. Residents of Houston and Harris County are advised to report the bookkeeping scam to the District Clerk’s Office at 713-755-7300 or the Sheriff’s Office at 713-274-9210.
For more on this story, check out the FBI report.
Bookkeeping Scam in Harris County
If your family or business is located in or around the Houston area and you would like help on keeping the books responsibly, please contact us to learn more about how we can help.
