Jury Duty Scam – the latest in Senior Fraud

I realize the blog is about health – but watching out for scams can certainly help keep you healthy!

It seems like everyday there is a new crook out there looking to scam seniors and in this economy it is only going to get worse.

The latest that I have learned about is a jury duty ploy. Apparently it is spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call. Most of us take a summons for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of fraud has surfaced.

The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and bingo; your identity was just stolen.The fraud has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma ,Illinois , and Colorado.  This swindle is particularly insidious because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending they are with the court system. The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.