Jury Duty Scam Reminder

                                                                                                               NEWS RELEASE #: 17-010 - JANUARY 12, 2017

Jury_Duty_Scam_Alert
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office wants to remind citizens about a telephone scam in which a caller contacts them claiming there is a warrant for their arrest because they missed jury duty.

This scam has taken a number of different forms in recent years, including requests for money to pay a fine by people representing themselves as a member of the sheriff's office. Both this agency and the Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller for Sarasota County, which issues jury summons, want citizens to know that employees never make requests of jurors for payment of fines over the telephone and do not request personal financial information.

Before acting on an unsolicited phone call regarding jury service, contact the Clerk's Office at 941.861.7425, to confirm any such claims and whether jury duty was missed.

Variations of the jury duty scam have been reported since 2005 in multiple states and warnings have been issued in Sarasota County for several years.