Jury Duty Scam

[dougtrr2]

The sad fact is, the scammers must be making money or they wouldn't be making the calls.

I generally don't engage with the scammers. But once in a while I will ask if they are going to be selling me anything. I will always be assured they will not be selling anything. Then I ask, "If you're not selling anything, where does the money come from for your paycheck?" Crickets.

Doug in SW IA

 

[edgar10937]

I told a scammer once that I needed a security deposit before I could do business with him. There was a very satisfying click.

If I get a call from a number I don't know I'll pick up but won't say anything. The scammers computer is waiting for you to say hello. Most of the time if there's nothing after several seconds I'll just hang up.

I wish there was an app that would automatically transfer the call to a 1 900 number that would cost them.

one of the Youtube scambaiters found a Vatican automated info number that supposedly cost something like $10 per call, hacked scammers auto dialer to repeatedly call the number.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Tell them you're a retired fireman, over 70 years old. Lots of ways to be excused. I thought when I was a law student I was exempt...but I was wrong.

Juror Qualifications, Exemptions and Excuses

Individuals must meet certain criteria to be legally qualified for jury service.

www.uscourts.gov

 

[ultrarunner]

Can be very aggressive… niece was out of state attending university and Alameda County was not about to take no.

She was able to get one no question deferment and was called again in the summer but she was still out of state as she accepted a summer internship.

I’ve been called many times and served several times.

 

[Runner]

I was on jury duty once for a full week while they screwed around with legal stuff. The trial finally started on the last day and after about 2 hours they declared a mistrial and we were dismissed.

It may have been my fault. I got to the courthouse early by about a half hour and the courtroom wasn't open yet, so I sat on a bench outside the room. While I was sitting there, I saw the police bring in the defendant. After they let the jury into the jury room, we were sitting around talking and someone asked if we were finally going to get started with the trial. I casually mentioned that I thought so because I saw them bringing in the defendant.

We were held in the jury room for another couple of hours, then the judge called me (just me) into the courtroom and asked me what I said to the other jurors about the defendant that morning and I repeated what I said. Then, they called the mistrial.

I never did know if the mistrial was because of something I said or not. The court never said a word to me about it, just declared the mistrial and and released the jury.

 

[dstig1]

I got called once here several years back. Probably around 2005 or so. At the time, the county was still fairly small but had been growing fast so they didn't typically have a lot of trials. As a result, they called a jury pool for an entire month at a time and said most of the time there may be one trial or even none. Well not this one month... There were something like 4 or 5 that went to trial and they were talking about how they probably should change their procedure now so that they don't put too much burden on the pool. Not sure if they changed it but I would assume so. They did have an answering machine set up with a message to call and let you know if the pool needed to come in or not. It would say something like, there is nothing scheduled for this week, or report on Tues or whatever.

I was on 2 trials and barely missed being on a third panel. And I was super glad that I missed that one as it was a child molester and I can only imagine what the jury got to see and hear. Ick. The other 2 were DUIs and what I learned was that if you are sitting on a jury for DUI in WI, then it ain't their first time!

At the time, after you had served, they took you off the list for a few years - 3 to 5 but I forget the actual number. Still have yet to be called back since then. It was kind of interesting to do that one time, but no desire to repeat it now.

They did pay me mileage for travel which was funny as at the time we lived right around the corner from the county govt building, with the courthouse in it, so it was less than 1/2 mi total. So I got a check for the 3 days I had to show up for like 30 cents or something.

 

[civilian]

My 96 year old dad got 3 calls really early before he was out of bed. Upon calling the fourth time, dad answered. It was "his" grandson's voice asking for bail money. Voice then said he had enough time to ask his grandpa and had to hand the phone over to the bail person. Well that different voice asked if dad was going to pay the bail. During this time dad called grandson's mom(my sister) and put phones so she could hear son's voice and bail person's voices. When dad told them he was not going to pay, the spam caller hung up. Sister called son and he said it was probably an AI call. AI spoofed grandson's voice to grandpa. Grandson then called my dad and had a good conversation. He and his sister (grand daughter) then came up over the weekend to see my dad(their grandpa). My dad had a similar call years ago but the voices were not "his" grandson's. This was before AI and spoofing voices. Different grandson supposedly in jail. Jon

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Got one of those "Grandpa, I'm in jail, need bail money" calls. I said "Well, give me an address and telephone number and I'll send it to my good friend, the Attorney General and He'll take care of it". CLICK!