SALT LAKE CITY – State officials are telling the public to be wary of calls from people claiming to work for the state court system, as scammers are targeting people by pretending to be a court employee calling about a warrant.
Officials with Utah State Courts are warning residents to be careful about giving out personal information over the phone; the current scam involves a call from someone who claims the potential victim failed to report for jury duty and has a warrant out for their arrest.
The scammers then allegedly tell the victim they need a social security number, their date of birth and sometimes a credit card number in order to cancel that warrant. Officials said they have received multiple reports regarding the scam, and they said the scammers pretend to be court employees or sometimes a member of a law enforcement agency.
State Court Administrator Dan Becker stated in a press release that a real court employee would not ask for identifying information.
“The state courts rarely if ever call a potential juror,” he stated in the release. “If a potential juror is contacted, the courts would never request personal identifying information.”
Nancy Volmer, public information officer for Utah State Courts, said the best way to combat the scam is to make people aware of it.
“I think the big part of putting this scam to rest is just for citizens to be aware of what’s going on and to make sure that they don’t release any personal information if they get a call from a court,” Volmer said.
State officials encourage anyone who receives a call of this nature to contact their local law enforcement agency.
