Scam Warning

A serious threat to the security of your identity from Carrie.

The information contained in the following article has been verified through both Snopes.com (link listed below) and the FBI (link also included below). Please pass this important information on to everyone in your acquaintance. 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 scam has surfaced. Fall for it and your identity could be stolen, reports CBS. I

n this scam, someone will contact you claiming to be a court official and will inform you in a threatening and intimidating manner that a warrant has been issued for your arrest due to your failure to appear for jury duty. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons for jury duty, the scammer asks for your Social Security number and date of birth so the information can be verified and the arrest warrant canceled.

Give out any of this information and bingo! Your identity has just been stolen.

The scam has been reported in 10 states so far, including Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado. This scam is particularly insidious because they use threats and intimidation over the phone in order to bully people into giving information by insinuating they're with the court system. The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.

More information is available at these sites:

Snopes
The FBI