A scam is giving Fulton County residents another reason to hate jury service.
The Superior Court is warning that con artists are calling residents and threatening them with jail time if they don’t pay fines — ranging from $300 to $2.500 — for dodging jury service.
In Fulton, the grifters may be aided by the fact that the county has a well-documented problem with no-shows for jury service while some residents get called multiple times. The court has attempted to tackle that problem with well-publicized threats of criminal penalties for service skippers.
Two years ago, the court sent out 30,000 letters to jury service scofflaws — yes, it is illegal to duck jury service — who were warned that they faced $500 fines or 20 days in jail if they continued to avoid service. Fulton's 50 percent no-show rate is five times the national average.
The current series of calls is not court sanctioned, officials said.
“These calls, which threaten recipients with jail time if they do not comply, are fraudulent and are not connected with the Superior Court of Fulton County,” the court said in a statement. “This is a scam.”
Officials warned that the con artists have a persuasive script. They recite the names of judges, courtroom numbers, addresses and other details to make the scam credible.
Officials warn people not to provide personal identifying information over the phone and to contact Fulton County Jury Services at 404-612-4600 immediately if they get a call.
The scam is similar to one that the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office was investigating in August in which people were duped into making sizable payments over the phone to people pretending to be deputies collecting fines.
Recipients said the calls were made by people who have detailed knowledge of the sheriff’s office and are especially persuasive, Deputy Shannon Volkodav said last month.
Victims followed the caller’s instructions and purchased Green Dot MoneyPak cards, which they used to pay the scammers, Volkodav said.
The system makes it very difficult to track down the con artists, she said. Similar phone scams have been reported throughout Georgia, some with slight variations, such as the caller claiming that the victim has not paid an outstanding traffic or parking ticket, Volkodav said.
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