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Federal Courts and Jury Duty scams

Last updated September 18, 2026

The short answer

The jury duty scam is a call saying you missed federal jury service and face a fine or arrest unless you pay immediately. No court or US Marshal collects fines by phone, and no court takes payment by gift card, wire, crypto or payment app.

Jury duty impersonation has one property that makes it unusually effective: nobody is certain they did not miss a summons. Post goes astray, people move, and a jury summons is exactly the sort of letter that could have been missed. The caller supplies a case number, a judge's name and a courthouse address — all checkable, all real — and the only false element is the one that cannot be checked in the moment: that any of it applies to you.

How Federal Courts and Jury Duty scams work

  1. 1

    The failure-to-appear call

    A caller identifying as a deputy US Marshal or a court officer says you missed jury service, a bench warrant has issued, and a fine must be paid today to avoid arrest.

  2. 2

    Verifiable details as credibility

    Real judges' names, real courthouse addresses, real case-number formats and a spoofed courthouse caller ID. Everything a nervous person can check checks out.

  3. 3

    Payment by untraceable means

    The fine must be paid in gift cards, at a crypto kiosk, or by wire — explained as the court's "electronic bond" system. You are told to stay on the line throughout.

  4. 4

    Personal data collection

    Some versions do not ask for money at all. They collect a Social Security number and date of birth to "confirm you were summoned", which is the actual product.

Warning signs

  • A caller says you missed jury duty and must pay a fine today
  • You are threatened with arrest during the call
  • Payment is demanded in gift cards, crypto, wire or a payment app
  • You are told to stay on the phone and not speak to anyone
  • A badge number, case number or judge's name is offered as proof
  • You are asked for your Social Security number to verify a summons
  • The caller ID shows a courthouse or sheriff's number

Examples

The $2,400 bench warrant

A man is told by a "Deputy US Marshal" that he failed to appear for federal jury service, that a bench warrant is active, and that the fine can be cleared with an electronic bond of $2,400 in gift cards. He is kept on the phone for ninety minutes, including inside the store, and instructed to tell staff the cards are for family.

Verifying the summons

A caller from the "jury services office" says a summons was returned undelivered and asks for a Social Security number and date of birth to confirm the record. No money is requested, which is why it does not feel like a scam. Two months later a credit card is opened in that name.

What to do

  • Hang up. Courts do not call about missed jury duty and do not take payment by phone.
  • Call the courthouse yourself on a number from the court's own .gov website.
  • Never pay a fine in gift cards, crypto or by wire. No court accepts those.
  • Never give a Social Security number to a caller, even for a summons you might have missed.
  • Report to the US Marshals Service and to your local court — both track this specifically.

Report it to Federal Courts and Jury Duty

Report impersonation to the US Marshals Service and to your local federal court clerk. Courts communicate about jury duty by post, never by phone demand.

Our step-by-step guide: Federal Courts

Getting your money back

Gift card losses are occasionally recovered if reported within minutes — call the card issuer's fraud line with the numbers and receipts before the balance is spent. Wires reported quickly can sometimes be recalled; file at ic3.gov immediately with amounts and timestamps. If only personal data was given up, the exposure is the loss: place free credit freezes at all three bureaus, file at IdentityTheft.gov, and monitor for new accounts. Courts and the US Marshals both track these impersonations and want the reports.

Frequently asked questions

Does a court ever call about missed jury duty?

Jury business is conducted by post. Some local courts make courtesy calls, but none of them demand payment, threaten arrest on the call, or accept a fine over the phone. If you are genuinely unsure, hang up and call the courthouse on a number from its own .gov site.

The caller had a real case number and judge's name. Doesn't that prove it?

No. Court records are public, so names, addresses and case-number formats are all freely available, and caller ID is trivially spoofed. Verifiable details are the standard equipment of this scam, not evidence against it.

What happens if I actually miss jury duty?

You receive a notice by post, and typically an opportunity to explain or reschedule. Penalties, where they exist, are imposed by a judge in a documented process — never collected by a caller, and never in gift cards. The real consequence is far slower and far less dramatic than the call describes.

Other companies scammers impersonate

Scams reuse their scripts across brands. If you were contacted about Federal Courts and Jury Duty, these are the guides worth reading next.

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