Peoria Standard

In a Sept. 29 Facebook post, state Sen. Sally Turner shared a letter from the Logan County Sheriff's Office that warned residents of a scam where someone calls and claims to be with the sheriff's office. The caller claims that the targeted individual missed jury duty and there is a warrant out for their arrest, and then the caller requests payment in lieu of arrest.

"Attention Logan County: Please read the post from the Logan County Sheriff’s Office. Please feel free to share this post so residents are aware! Thank you!" Turner said. 

The Logan County Sheriff's Office issued advice for remaining secure from telephone scams like this one: Never give out your personal information over the phone to someone you have not personally identified. Always ask questions to help identify who you are talking with and who they work for: business name, phone number so you can call them back, employee’s name for when you call back and their supervisor’s name.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois has also issued a warning about this sort of scam. Nationwide, citizens are being targeted by phone calls and threatened with prosecution for failing to obey jury service orders in federal or state courts. In the calls, the threat of a fine for getting out of jury service is used to coerce those called into providing confidential data, potentially culminating in identity theft and fraud. 

These calls are not from authentic court officials. Federal courts do not require anyone to provide any sensitive information in a telephone call. Most contact between a federal court and a prospective juror will be through the U.S. Mail, and any phone contact by real court officials will not include requests for social security numbers, credit card numbers or any other sensitive information. 

It is a crime for any individual to falsely represent himself or herself as a federal court official. The federal judiciary takes seriously such an offense. Persons who get such a telephone call should not provide the requested information. If you have questions pertaining to jury duty or the jury process you can call (618) 482-9160.