COLUMBUS — Court officials are warning county residents that a scam is occurring involving the scam artist sending a warrant threatening your arrest for missing jury duty if you don’t immediately pay a large fine.
After receiving an email Monday from an attorney with a photo of the fake warrant attached, Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton says it was the first time he’s ever seen a counterfeit warrant with his forged electronic signature at the bottom.
The judge says he is especially bothered because everything, including the counterfeit warrants, appears to be very elaborate. In some cases, fake warrants will include the intended victim’s name, address, birth date and other personal information.
According to local law enforcement, scammers are also able to create a fake caller ID, which allows them to call you and appear to be calling from a local police, sheriff or other law enforcement agency.
“I can tell you after 12 years of sitting on the bench that I’ve never once issued a warrant for anyone for missing jury duty,” Worton said. “If we get someone who misses who are unexcused, we simply send a deputy out to find them and tell them they need to come in. It’s never been more complicated than that.”
This scam is particularly frustrating because, in most cases, those behind the scam are out of the reach of local law enforcement.
“Usually, those committing the fraud reside outside of the United States,” the judge said. “They just dig through local officials and get names of deputies, judges and police officers, in order to make their scam look more legitimate as they attempt to extort money.”
Scammers often try to get individuals to give up their personal information, or – as it this case – make payments to them.
Worton, a former Columbus police chief, says he’s not sure what investigators at the sheriff’s office do with reports of attempted extortion. While not certain how many intended victims have called authorities, the judge says he been told a number of attempted extortion attempts have been made in recent days.
“I think (local law enforcement) are very familiar with these kind of scams,” the judge said.
If you receive a call from a person you believe is attempting to extort money from you under false pretenses, police advise you to hang up immediately, You are urged to contact the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department at 812-379-1650.
