FTC warns of dangerous new twist on phone call scams; hang up immediately

Scammers are pretending to be law enforcement officials accusing you of missing jury duty so they can steal your personal information, the Federal Trade Commission says.

The scam calls sound like they’re from an officer in your local police department who claims that you’ve missed jury duty and will be arrested unless you pay a fine on a website they send you, according to the FTC.

The website may look legitimate at first glance — the URL sounds official and the site itself is adorned with fake government seals. Once there, you’ll be prompted to enter your date of birth and Social Security number to “look up how much you owe.”

The prompt may ask you to pay upwards of $10,000 in fines, which can only be paid in cryptocurrency.

The FTC offers these guidelines to recognize when a call like this is a scam:

• Real law enforcement officers won’t call to say you’ll be arrested or threaten to arrest you if you hang up. Even if the caller ID looks like it’s coming from your local police department. (Scammers can fake it.)

• Only scammers say you can only pay with cash, gift cards, a payment app, cryptocurrency, or a wire transfer service like Western Union or MoneyGram.

If you receive one of these calls, hang up immediately. Afterwards, report the call at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, the FTC recommends.

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