Jury Duty Scam Showing Up Again In South Louisiana

Even the phone scams are into the Summer rerun season I guess. A scam that was prevalent in 2016 and 2017 is once again garnering the attention of South Louisiana law enforcement officials.

The Jury Duty Scam as it is known seeks to bilk unsuspecting victims out of cash by threatening them with legal action. Of course, the threats are unfounded but the phone solicitor can certainly make it sound legit.

The scam works like this. A caller tells a potential victim that he or she has missed a jury duty assignment. In order to make amends for missing this " legal obligation," a fine must be paid. The caller then tells the victim that they can settle the fine right there on the phone. That's when they ask for a credit card number or for the victim to go out and secure a gift card that may be used for payment.

All of this is what we call around the farm, organic material or bullsh*t.

Just so you know, in most cases the Clerk of Courts office in your parish will not impose a failure to appear fine. They will send a notice in the mail, they won't call. Often that notice requests that you call the office an reschedule your jury duty assignment.

Of course, the prudent thing for you to do should you suspect you are being scammed is to simply phone your parish Clerk of Courts office. Chances are that unless you actually were supposed to serve on a jury, they will have no record of the "missed jury service" in their records.