ROANOKE CO., Va. – “I was very nervous and anxious. I wasn’t sure what to do, and I thought oh my goodness, I’ve missed jury duty, you know, and I really thought I’d be in trouble.”
That was how Deborah Welch described her encounter with a scam caller who told her that she had missed jury duty.
Scammers have been telling people that they missed jury duty, and if they didn’t do what they were told, there would be consequences.
“I explained to them that I’ve never gotten a letter,” Welch said. “They said, ‘well you did get a letter, we have it on record, and we need you to come down to the courthouse immediately or you will be arrested.”
While Welch was ultimately able to avoid being scammed, Lt. Colonel Chad Beheler and the Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office have been getting at least 50 to 70 calls a day about this type of scam since Monday.
“You’ll get a phone call, and the suspect will say, you’ve missed jury duty, you can either pay me or you’ll be arrested,” Beheler said.
Scammers trick people by spoofing the Roanoke County Sheriff’s Office number, then make threats of arrest.
Beheler says that law enforcement will never tell you to make a payment if you miss jury duty.
“You’ll have somebody show up at your door, or you’ll receive a letter in the mail,” Beheler said. “We’re not going to call you, we’re not going to threaten you with, ‘hey, if you don’t pay me $500 or $7,000, we’re going to come arrest you’.”
If you get a call from someone you think is a scammer, Beheler says the best thing to do is just hang up the phone.
“If you do happen to get a phone call, just relax and stay calm,” Beheler said. “Don’t rush anything. Don’t try to hurry up and answer questions. If you don’t know who it is, hang up the phone.”