Phone scam linked to jury duty

Costa Mesa police this week have been fielding reports of a phone scam that threatens its victims with arrest for missing jury duty.

The scheme targets residents who have recently received jury duty summonses but were not required to report to the courthouse, according to police.

After the jury duty is over, someone impersonating an Orange County sheriff’s deputy will call saying there is a warrant out for the victim’s arrest for not reporting to jury duty.

The callers are sophisticated enough to name a Orange County Superior Court judge who they say issued the bench warrant, police said.

The scammers tell their victims that they must pay off the warrant to avoid arrest.

Victims are instructed to immediately buy a reloadable debit card called a Green Dot MoneyPak and use it to pay off the warrant over the phone.

The department has taken three reports regarding the scam in the past week, police said.

In one case, a victim handed over $800 to the scammers, and in another, a woman was conned out of $2,500.

Police warn against ever giving out personal information over the phone or using a pre-paid debit card to pay someone sight-unseen.

— Jeremiah Dobruck

Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck