BEWARE OF JURY SERVICE SCAMS
Pima County, AZ – The Arizona Superior Court in Pima County has received several recent reports of jury service scams in Pima County. Someone falsely claiming to be a law enforcement officer or a representative of the Court has been calling Pima County residents advising they are being contacted for “failure to appear” for jury duty. The caller advises them that because they failed to report for jury duty one or more fines is owed. Residents are instructed to pay the fines by purchasing a Green Dot card or card(s) and are sometimes told to report to the courthouse or to the Sheriff's Office. The caller can be quite forceful and threatening.
The caller is not from the Superior Court or the Pima County Sheriff's Office. The public should be aware that the Court and law enforcement officers will NEVER contact a person by telephone or email and demand payment of a fine to avoid being arrested for failing to appear for jury service. Do not make any payments, provide Green dot card numbers, credit card information or any other personal information, and never give out your social security number. If a person does fail to appear for jury service, they may be mailed a notice card which would read:
FAILURE TO APPEAR NOTICE: Our records indicate you failed to appear as instructed for jury service on the date noted above. SECOND SUMMONS NOTICE: You must immediately call the jury office at 724-4222 to reschedule your jury service. Failure to contact the jury office may result in further action being brought against you by this Court as prescribed by Arizona law. WWW.SC.PIMA.GOV/JURORS
The Superior Court urges anyone contacted by potential scammers to immediately call the Jury Commissioner's Office (520) 724-4222, to verify whether a jury summons is in effect.
Because this is a nationwide issue, if you receive a call from a scammer please file an online report with the Federal Trade Commission by going to www.ftc.gov and following the "File a Consumer Complaint” link. City of Tucson residents may also file a local Tucson Police Department report at any TPD substation, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or by calling (520) 791-4444, option #2. Pima County residents may file a fraud report online at www.pimasheriff.org or by calling (520) 351-4900 or 1-888-477-2328.
If you have lost money, you should immediately contact your local law enforcement agency.
