PCSO: Scam Alert

On September 19th, 2017, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office received a call from a victim who was defrauded out of hundreds of dollars. The victim stated a person called claiming to be with the Pima County Sheriff’s office and informed the victim that the victim missed jury duty and a warrant was being issued for the victim's arrest. The person gave very specific instructions for the victim to pay $861.90 to avoid arrest. The victim was instructed to get a green dot card, load the money and provide him with the PIN number. The victim did as instructed. After hanging up the phone the victim checked the website for the Pima County Superior Court, the victim discovered Pima County has a juror scam alert on the website.

Pima County Superior Court issued a warning after receiving several reports of the same scam. According to the warning released, someone falsely claiming to represent the Court has been calling Pima County residents advising they are being contacted for “failure to appear” for jury duty. The caller advises them that because they failed to report for jury duty one or more fines is owed. Sometimes the caller asks for the entire amount of the fines, but sometimes informs them they may take care of the fines at a reduced rate by paying money, or a “retainer bond, ” to the caller. The caller can be quite forceful and threatening.

The caller is not from the Superior Court or the Pima County Sheriff's Office. The public should be aware that the Court and law enforcement officers will NEVER contact a person by telephone or email and demand payment of a fine to avoid being arrested for failing to appear for jury service. Do not make any payments, provide credit card information or any other personal information, and never give out your social security number.

The Pinal County Clerk of Superior Court does not send out Failure to Appear notices nor do they call if you do not show up for jury duty. If you receive a document from the Pinal County Clerk of Superior Court for failing to appear to jury duty, then it is a forged document. If you have questions call (520) 509-3555.

If you received a notice from Pima County, the notice would be mailed and would read:

FAILURE TO APPEAR NOTICE: Our records indicate you failed to appear as instructed for jury service on the date noted above. SECOND SUMMONS NOTICE: You must immediately call the jury office at 724-4222 to reschedule your jury service. Failure to contact the jury office may result in further action being brought against you by this Court as prescribed by Arizona law. WWW.SC.PIMA.GOV/JURY

Because this is a nationwide issue, if you receive a call from a scammer please file an online report with the Federal Trade Commission by going to www.ftc.gov and following the "File a Consumer Complaint” link. City of Tucson residents may also file a local Tucson Police Department report at any TPD substation, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., or by calling 520-791-4444, option #2.

If you have received a similar phone call and believe you’ve been scammed, please call the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office at (520) 866-5111.