I recently received a summons for Jury duty. The date I was supposed to appear on coincides with a date I am scheduled to be out of the country. In Seattle they really put computers to good use. I was able to go online and reschedule the date of my jury duty. What caught my eye was a prominent warning.

Yes, the scumbags are calling people and telling them that there has been a summons issued for their arrest for failing to appear for jury duty. The “click here for additional information” leads to http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/consumerawareness/a/juryscam.htm.

The page has some good information, but the last paragraph is the most useful. It says

“Protecting yourself against telephone-based identity theft is really simple. Unless you have initiated the call, and intend to do so, never give out your personal information over the telephone.”

This is really good advice. Sometimes it means you have to call a person back though. From time to time I get a call from Visa wanting to verify that I made a purchase that their system flagged as suspicious. Usually, but not always, this happens when I use my credit card out of the country. I always call them back before giving out any information. They never need the 3 digit code on the back of the card either.

So, be alert, it isn’t just the computer that scammers use to try to steal from you.

Randy Abrams
Director of Technical Education