New Jury Scam To Watch Out For

Fraudsters and scammers are becoming more sophisticated. Authorities in McHenry County, Illinois, have issued several warnings to the public about a new scam.   

Someone is using a sophisticated "spoofing" technique to make it appear that the McHenry County Jury Commission or the McHenry County Sheriff's Office is calling them.  

After identifying themselves as being from the McHenry County Jury Commission or McHenry County Sheriff's office, the scammer indicates that you have a missed jury duty summons and that a warrant is out for your arrest.   

The end game of this scam is for the scammer to trick or threaten the unsuspecting victim by giving the scammer personal identity information that they could then use for a variety of illegal schemes.   

It appears that the scammers are mainly targeting older populations that they consider to be more vulnerable to this type of scam. The police will not typically contact a person by phone to tell them they have a warrant out or to request that they pay a fine or penalty.  

What can you do to protect yourself?   

The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, has been putting out warnings regarding spoof calls as they become more prevalent.  The FCC has several good tips on how to avoid this scam.  Caller ID Spoofing | Federal Communications Commission (fcc.gov) 

The FCC recommends that you avoid Spoofing calls by: 

1. Not answering calls from unknown numbers. If you answer such a call, hang up immediately. 
2. If you answer the phone and the caller - or a recording - asks you to hit a button to stop getting the calls, you should just hang up. Scammers often use this trick to identify potential targets. 
3. Do not respond to any questions, especially those that can be answered with "Yes" or "No." 
4. Never give out personal information such as account numbers, Social Security numbers, mother's maiden names, passwords, or other identifying information in response to unexpected calls or if you are at all suspicious. 
5. If you get an inquiry from someone who says they represent a company or a government agency, hang up and call the phone number on your account statement, in the phone book, or on the company's or government agency's website to verify the authenticity of the request. You will usually get a written statement in the mail before you get a phone call from a legitimate source, particularly if the caller is asking for a payment. 
6. Use caution if you are being pressured for information immediately. 
7. If you have a voicemail account with your phone service, be sure to set a password for it. Some voicemail services are preset to allow access if you call in from your own phone number. A hacker could spoof your home phone number and gain access to your voice mail if you do not set a password. 
8. Talk to your phone company about call-blocking tools and check into apps that you can download to your mobile device. The FCC allows phone companies to block robocalls by default based on reasonable analytics. 

How does jury duty summons and selection actually work in Illinois?    

To be summoned for jury duty, you must be a registered voter or have a driver's license, a State ID Card, or an Illinois Person with a Disability Identification Card.   

Any eligible citizen may be called for jury service no more than once every 12 months.  

The jury service summons is sent via U.S. Mail. 

If you receive a call or email claiming to be a jury summons by any other means than U.S. mail, it is almost certainly not legitimate.  The contact information for the McHenry County, Illinois Jury Commission is 815-334-4390 if you have any doubts about a summons.   

Your summons will have information about when and where you must report for your jury duty.  

If you are not able to report, you must provide a valid excuse.  There are certain categories that the court will allow for jury duty to be postponed or excused. The basic list of valid excuses that need to be documented with the court includes: 

• The nature of your occupation 
• Certain business affairs 
• Physical health 
• Certain family situations, including breastfeeding mothers.   
• Active duty in the Illinois National Guard 

What are the actual penalties for missing a jury duty summons?  

705 ILS 305/4.1 outlines the rules on jury duty, notice to employers, and your right to time off.  

If you do not provide a valid excuse to the court, it is against the law not to appear for a jury summons.  

You could be charged civilly or criminally.   

• The penalties are a fine of up to $100 for a State summons and: 
• The penalties are up to three days in jail or an order to perform community service for missing a federal summons.   

If you do have a valid excuse, the Court will typically allow you to postpone service or be removed from the potential juror pool.   

If you are required to appear, you will wait in what is known as a jury room until a courtroom is ready for you. Once in the courtroom, the first step, called voir dire, begins.   

Vior dire 

This is a process where the Judge as well as the attorneys may ask you questions to see if you can be fair and impartial in your decision making considering the type of trial that is before the court.   

After the questions are complete, you will either be selected or excused as a jury member for the trial. You may be selected for another jury that day and will have to return to the jury room to see if you will be selected to go through voir dire regarding another trial.  

Now that you understand how you will be contacted for Jury duty and an overview of what to normally expect you can be better prepared to deal with scams such as this and will know what to expect if you do indeed receive a real summons for jury duty.  

Jury Duty is a critical part of our justice system so scams such as these are important to make the public aware of and quash as soon as possible.