(NewsNation)— Police in several areas have recently been warning people about a phone scam that’s costing some thousands of dollars.
In some cases, the scammer will call and claim to be from law enforcement. The caller will then tell the person they’re trying to scam that they missed jury duty, and a warrant will be issued for their arrest if they don’t pay a fine.
In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, scammers have been targeting teachers, according to NewsNation local affiliate WJW.
These cases involve a scammer posing as a deputy and calling a school, asking for the teacher by name. One teacher lost $2,000, WJW reported.
Rhode Island police put out a warning to the general public about the scam on Monday, and earlier this month, so did police in Jackson, Mississippi.
These kinds of scams have been happening for years. The United States courts warned of these calls happening in three court districts in 2013. Another scam, where citizens receive emails claiming they were selected for jury duty and demanding they fill out a form with personal information, such as their Social Security number, birthday and mother’s maiden name, was also reported by the U.S. courts in 2014.
Federal courts will never ask jury candidates to provide sensitive information, such as Social Security or credit card numbers, over the telephone. The U.S. courts note it is a crime to falsely represent oneself as a federal court employee.