Jury Duty Scams: Fake Arrest Warrants and How to Respond

The phone rings and the caller sounds official, maybe even gives a badge number and a real-sounding court name. You missed jury duty, they say, and a judge has issued a warrant for your arrest. You can avoid jail only by paying a fine right now. The fear is immediate, and that is the entire trick.

Courts and law enforcement do not collect fines this way, and they do not threaten arrest over the phone. This guide explains how the jury duty scam works, shows a real example, and gives you a calm, confident way to respond.

What it is

A jury duty scam is a type of government impersonation scam. A criminal pretends to be a court official, sheriff, or law-enforcement officer and claims you failed to appear for jury service, so now you face a fine or arrest. The goal is to scare you into paying immediately.

The scam is convincing because it borrows the authority of the courts and police, and because most people are not sure exactly how jury duty and warrants actually work. Scammers fill that uncertainty with urgency and threats.

How it works

1. A caller claims you missed jury duty and a warrant has been issued for your arrest.
2. They use real names of courts, judges, or officers, and may spoof the court’s phone number.
3. They say you can clear the warrant only by paying a fine immediately.
4. They demand payment by gift card, wire, prepaid card, cryptocurrency, or cash fed into a Bitcoin ATM, and warn you not to hang up.

Some versions now use AI-generated voices and very specific personal details to sound even more believable. The FBI and federal courts have repeatedly warned the public that this is a scam.

A real example

Linda, 66, gets a call from a man who identifies himself as a deputy with her county sheriff’s office, complete with a badge number and a case number. He says she ignored a jury summons and a judge signed a “failure to appear” warrant, but she can avoid arrest by paying a $1,500 fine through a payment app while they stay on the line. He is calm and authoritative and tells her not to discuss it with anyone because it is an active court matter. Linda nearly pays before she remembers that real courts do not take fines by app. She hangs up and calls the courthouse directly, which confirms there was no warrant.

By the numbers

• People reported losing $3.5 billion to imposter scams in 2025, and government impersonation, which includes court and law-enforcement scams, was a top driver (FTC).
• Real law enforcement does not call to demand payment or threaten immediate arrest if you refuse (FBI and federal courts).
• Payments are demanded in hard-to-trace forms like gift cards, wire transfers, prepaid cards, and Bitcoin ATMs (FBI).

Red flags to watch for

• A call claiming you missed jury duty and now face arrest.
• A demand to pay a fine immediately to clear a “warrant.”
• Payment requested by gift card, wire, prepaid card, or cryptocurrency.
• Pressure to stay on the phone and keep it secret.
• Threats of arrest if you hang up or question the caller.

How to protect yourself

1. Hang up. A real court will not call to demand payment or threaten arrest.
2. If you are unsure, look up your local court or clerk of court yourself and call to verify. Never use the number the caller gave you.
3. Never pay a “fine” with gift cards, wire, prepaid cards, or cryptocurrency.
4. Know that missed jury duty is handled by mail, not by surprise arrest calls.
5. Make yourself harder to reach. Scammers use phone numbers and personal details bought from data-broker and people-search sites. Removing your information from those sites, which a privacy or data-removal service can do for you, reduces these calls.
6. Tell your family about this one. Simply knowing the script ahead of time makes it almost powerless.

If you’ve already responded

Contact your bank, card company, or payment app right away to try to stop or reverse it. If you used gift cards, call the gift card company with the numbers. Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to your local court and police, who often track these scams in your area.

In the news

• ‘Jury duty’ scam: how it works and what to watch out for (The Hill)
• FBI and U.S. Attorneys warn of new jury scam

Sources

• FTC: Did you get a call saying you missed jury duty and need to pay? It’s a scam
• FBI: Warning about jury and court scams
• U.S. Courts: Beware of scams related to jury service and arrest warrants
• FBI IC3: Elder Fraud