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San Juan County Courts Warn Islanders of Jury Service Phone Scam
Aug 29, 2024
By San Juan County
Reminder: San Juan County Courts and Sheriff’s Office employees DO NOT solicit payments over the phone.
SAN JUAN COUNTY, WA. August 29, 2024 - In light of several recent reports of scam telephone calls regarding jury duty, the San Juan County Courts urge islanders to be aware of and report suspicious activity. Reminder: San Juan County Courts and Sheriff’s Office employees DO NOT solicit payments over the phone.

Recent Reports

The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office recently received reports of county residents being targeted by scam telephone callers who are impersonating Sheriff’s Office employees. In a recent scam attempt, the caller told the targeted individual that they had contempt of court warrants for failing to report for jury service and attempted to extort payments over the phone to resolve the warrant.

Scammers can go to great lengths to seem like a legitimate caller. The scam caller in this scheme used the name of a real deputy, Sergeant Zac Reimer, provided a real badge number, and in at least one case, the scammer provided a fake citation number. Phone scammers have the ability to make the call look like it is coming from the law enforcement agency, a practice known as “spoofing.”

The Sheriff’s Office does not try to get phone payments from people with warrants. “Remember: the SJSCO will never call you to inform you that you have a warrant and ask for money over the phone,” said Sheriff Eric Peter.

If you receive a call like this:

Write down the phone number they called from
Do not give any personal information
Hang up the phone
Report the fraud attempt to the Sheriff’s Office at (360)378-4151
“It’s very important that people report for jury service,” said District Court Judge Carolyn Jewett, “but you will never be asked for money for failure to appear for jury duty.”

“We know that there are many reasons people don’t respond to a jury summons,” said Superior Court Judge Kathryn Loring. “If you cannot report for jury duty when summoned, please contact the Jury Manager.”

You can contact the San Juan County Jury Manager with questions about jury duty by emailing [email protected], or calling the Jury Information Hotline at (360)378-9407.

If you have been targeted by a similar phone scam, you can contact the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office on their business line at (360)378-4151 to report the fraud attempt.

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