Printed from voicescam.com/scams/jury-duty-scam-call/ · Updated 30 October 2026
The jury duty scam call: "you missed jury duty" is a lie
A jury duty scam call is a call from someone posing as a court officer, a U.S. Marshal or local police who says you missed jury duty and will be arrested unless you pay a fine now. The FTC says courts never demand payment over the phone. Hang up and call your court on a number you look up yourself.
Do this now
- Hang up. Real officers do not call to threaten arrest, and they will not arrest you for hanging up.
- Do not visit any website the caller gives you and do not type your Social Security number or birthdate into it.
- Never pay by payment app, crypto, gift card or wire. The FTC says only scammers insist on those.
- Call the court yourself on the number from its official website or your real jury summons.
The missed jury duty scam call has been around for years, and it keeps working because it hits two fears at once: getting arrested and being embarrassed. The script changes a little each year, but the ending is always the same. Someone wants you to pay a "fine" today, in a way that is hard to undo.
How the call goes
Most jury duty scams start with an urgent call from someone who says they are a U.S. Marshal or an officer from your local police department (FTC, 2026). To sound real, the caller may already know your full name or address.
- The accusation. You missed jury duty, a grand jury summons or a court date, so a warrant has been issued.
- The threat. Officers will come to arrest you today unless the matter is "resolved" now.
- The way out. You can clear it by paying a fine or a "bond" right away, and you must stay on the line while you do it.
- The payment. A payment app, cryptocurrency, gift cards or a wire transfer, all of which are hard to reverse.
Some callers use a "failure to appear" story instead of jury duty. The pattern is the same: a legal problem you did not know about, a deadline measured in hours and a payment method no court uses.
New twists: fake warrants and fake websites
Scammers now follow the call with a text or email that looks like an official arrest warrant, complete with an amount you owe. The FTC says real law enforcement will never text or email you an arrest warrant (FTC, 2026).
Another version sends you to a website with an official-sounding address and government-looking seals. It asks for your birthdate and Social Security number to "look up how much you owe", may ask you to pay up to $10,000 in fines on the site, or sends you to a "government kiosk" to pay in cryptocurrency (FTC, 2025). There is no such kiosk. If you think the call could be real, the FTC says not to use the link they give you and to find the court's real website yourself.
Warning signs of a jury duty scam call
- A threat of arrest on the phone. The FTC says real officers will not call to say they will arrest you.
- Payment over the phone. Courts never demand payment over the phone, and no government agency will.
- Only one way to pay. A payment app, crypto, gift cards or a wire transfer service such as Western Union or MoneyGram.
- A warrant sent by text or email. Real warrants are not delivered that way.
- Requests for your Social Security number or birthdate. Federal courts do not ask for sensitive information by phone or email (U.S. Courts).
- Caller ID that shows the police or a court. Scammers can make any name or number appear (FTC).
How real courts contact jurors
Most contact between a federal court and a prospective juror happens through the U.S. mail, and any phone or email contact from real court staff will not include requests for sensitive information (U.S. Courts). State and county courts run their own jury systems, so the details vary, but the same rule holds: a court does not settle a missed summons with a phone payment.
| What the scam caller says | How courts and police work |
|---|---|
| "You missed jury duty and there is a warrant" | Courts write to you by mail and give you a way to respond |
| "Pay the fine now or officers will come today" | Courts never demand payment over the phone |
| "We are sending the warrant by text" | Law enforcement does not text or email arrest warrants |
| "Enter your Social Security number on our site" | Federal courts do not ask for sensitive information by phone or email |
| "Stay on the line and do not tell anyone" | You can hang up and call the court back at any time |
For a federal summons, the U.S. Courts site says to call the Clerk of Court's office of the U.S. District Court in your area. For a state or county summons, use the phone number printed on your real summons or on the court's own website.
Can the caller's voice be fake?
Often the caller is simply a person reading a script in a confident, official tone. But the FBI warns that criminals can use AI-generated audio to impersonate well-known public figures to get payments, and AI-generated video to pose as law enforcement or other authority figures on live video calls (FBI IC3, 2024). If an "officer" puts on a voice you recognize, such as a local sheriff from the news, that proves nothing.
The voice does not matter. What matters is the demand. Any call that ends with "pay now, this way, and do not hang up" fails the test, however real it sounds. Our guide to telling whether a voice is AI explains why your ear alone is not a reliable check.
If you paid or shared details
- Contact the company you paid through straight away (the payment app, gift card company, crypto platform, wire service or your bank) and ask them to stop or reverse the payment.
- If you gave your Social Security number, go to IdentityTheft.gov for the steps to take, including how to watch your credit (FTC).
- Report the call at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and tell the real court so it can warn other jurors.
Our step-by-step guide on what to do if you were scammed covers each payment method in more detail, and how to report a scam call lists who to tell and what to have ready.
Warn the people most likely to get this call
A jury duty scam call works best on people who respect the courts and would never ignore a summons. Tell older relatives the one rule that beats it: no court takes a fine over the phone. Agree that before paying any "officer" they will hang up and call you or the court first. The jury story is one of several calls impersonating police, courts and tax officials, and the same rule works for all of them.
If the "officer" says a grandchild is in custody and needs bail, that is the grandparent scam with a fake arrest story. If the caller hands you to a "bank investigator" to protect your account, read about the fake bank fraud team call.
Sources
- Federal Trade Commission, consumer alert: "Ignore calls, texts, and emails threatening to arrest you for missing jury duty". Published 11 June 2026. Checked 30 October 2026.
- Federal Trade Commission, consumer alert: "Scammers are using fake websites in a twist on jury duty scams". Published 4 August 2025. Checked 30 October 2026.
- Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts: "Juror Scams". Checked 30 October 2026.
- Federal Trade Commission, consumer advice: "Phone Scams". Checked 30 October 2026.
- FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, public service announcement: "Criminals use generative artificial intelligence to facilitate financial fraud". Published 3 December 2024. Checked 30 October 2026.
Common questions
Is a call about missing jury duty a scam?
Almost always, if the caller wants payment. The FTC says courts never demand payment over the phone, and real officers will not call to threaten arrest. Hang up and call your court on a number you look up yourself.
Can you be arrested for missing jury duty?
A court can follow up on a missed summons, but it does so by mail and through the court, not with a phone call demanding a fine. Call the clerk of the court named on your real summons to check.
Will the police call me about a warrant?
No. The FTC says real law enforcement will not call to say they will arrest you and will never text or email you an arrest warrant.
The caller ID showed my local sheriff. Is it real?
Not necessarily. Scammers can make any name or number show up on caller ID, which is called spoofing. Hang up and call the sheriff's office on its published number.
What if I gave my Social Security number?
Go to IdentityTheft.gov for the steps to take, including how to monitor your credit, and report the call at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
How do I check if I really have jury duty?
For a federal court, call the Clerk of Court's office of the U.S. District Court in your area. For a state or county court, use the number on your real summons or on the court's own website.
