Columbia Co. Woman Loses $1,000 in Jury Duty Scam

A Columbia County woman lost over $1,000 in a jury duty scam, authorities said.

The 66-year-old Grovetown resident got a call two weeks ago from someone claiming to be a lieutenant with the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.

“We’ve got a warrant for your arrest for failure to appear for jury duty on July 16th,” the man said.

The woman said she had never received a letter. So the man gave her three options:
1. Spend 24 hrs. in jail.
2. Pay $995 and get an appointment with the Sheriffs Office.
3. Pay $1,900 and everything would be forgotten.

The woman said she selected the second option and the man instructed her to go to Walmart to send the $995. She sent the money through Billpay for $995.00 plus $3.95 for a fee to do the transaction.

After the man received the money, he gave the woman an appointment for July 24th to be at the Sheriffs Office.

The woman told authorities that she thought the call was real. She said her and her husband even heard radio traffic in the background. And a female voice spoke to the man and he said that he would send a unit to the woman’s house. So they through the man was calling from a law enforcement operations center.

The scam has been picking up recently in this area with multiple reports.

Local officials who are in charge of jury services say they will never call and ask for money or personal information over the phone. So don’t give out your information.

Authorities give this advice: hang up on the scammers, try to get the number they are calling from and call police with all the information you have.

For more crime news, pick up this week’s Jail Report. Cover: http://bit.ly/1HqFFFS

(Note: The image that appears here is a photo illustration, not a picture of the Columbia County victim.)