A Dallas County woman claims she nearly fell for a jury duty fraud. She received a call from someone purporting to be a Dallas County deputy, saying she wanted to address a “legal matter” concerning jury service. The woman figured it out quickly, but this is not always the case.
For the typical law-abiding citizen, receiving a call that you may be arrested for failing to appear for jury duty can be quite serious. The message one Dallas woman heard was so convincing that she called the number back, only to discover it was a hoax.
When Lisa Cobb heard this message, she believed it.
“I’m a deputy down at the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, ma’am, and I have a legal matter that’s regarding you, and it’s urgent,” the fraudster told me.
Cobb phoned the alleged deputy back.
“And when he started talking to me, he did sound like it,” she told me. “He was calm and collected. He was courteous and respectful.
Cobb began to suspect that she was not speaking with a deputy as the conversation progressed.
“I said, ‘Sir, I’m not going to continue unless you give me your badge number,'” she laughed. When Cobb eventually gave one, he hung up and contacted the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office. A woman who responded stated it was a fraud that had just gone around.
Cobb discovered the caller used the name of someone who previously worked for the sheriff’s office.
Doug Sisk of the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office says he sees this fraud twice to three times each week.
Sometimes the name refers to a present or previous member of the police. Regardless, Sisk made one thing abundantly apparent.
“No one from the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department is ever going to call you and request money over the phone because you missed jury duty,” Sisk told the crowd.
The sheriff’s office will also not contact to request money for outstanding warrants or payments via gift cards, Zelle, or Venmo.
“If you get these calls, just hang up on them,” Sisk told me. “Or you can tell them, ‘Come arrest me!’ I mean, no one is going to come out and arrest you.
Sisk said any communication between the court and a possible juror will be sent via US mail. If there is a legal issue, an investigator would appear in person.
Cobb considers herself fortunate to have detected the fraud in time, but she wishes to warn others in case they fall victim.
“These people are getting better and better, and it’s not so obvious,” she told me. “Sadly, you have to be suspicious of everything these days.” The public does not have access to information about persons summoned for jury duty, therefore Cobb’s absence from jury duty before receiving the call was purely coincidental.
According to Sisk, this scam is widespread and not limited to Dallas County.
He advised that if you suspect fraud, you should hang up and call the jury services direct line to validate the facts.