When you see stats about millions of fraud reports each year, it can be easy to think that it would never happen to you. Until it does.
It's easy to forget there's a person behind each of the 560,000 fraud cases the Federal Trade Commission reported in the third quarter of 2024 alone. The most common types of fraud were those related to credit cards and gift cards.
As someone who's worked for decades in the credit card industry, it was hard for me to imagine ever becoming a victim of one of these scams. And then it almost happened to my family.
Here's what happened
My wife called me frantic one day while I was at work. She described getting a call from someone who identified themselves as a police officer, and he accused her of missing a jury duty summons. The caller also texted her an official-looking court document.
When she couldn't recall ever receiving a summons, the "officer" grew increasingly angry, threatening her with arrest if she didn't pay a fine in person.
The man yelled at her to drive straight to the bank, withdraw cash and meet him at the entrance to the courthouse downtown, or she'd be arrested.
When she said she didn't have an ATM card, he yelled at her to go to the grocery store to purchase gift cards with her credit card and to deliver those.
When we realized it was a scam
While she was skeptical the whole time, being aggressively told to meet the caller at the courthouse under threat of arrest gave her pause.
When she told the caller that she would have to speak with a lawyer, and the caller threatened her with arrest if she disconnected, she realized it was a scam.
But the heated call with the supposed police officer, along with a texted image of an authentic-looking legal document, left her deeply shaken.
Unwilling to take any chances, I reached out to an attorney in my family, who quickly confirmed it was a scam -- the phony legal document lacked a judge's signature.
The FTC warned these scams are becoming increasingly common, and victims are losing thousands of dollars to this jury duty scam.
What it changed for us going forward
After researching the nature of these scams, we learned a few things to look for.
First, law enforcement will never call you and demand money. Arrest warrants are delivered in person, and official court documents arrive by mail. The police will never call you to threaten you with arrest if you don't make a payment.
If you actually do miss jury duty and ignore repeated summons, then you may be asked to appear before a judge, but you won't be penalized before that happens.
Since the original incident, we've had additional scammers call and leave voicemails for us with similar messages of missed jury duty and our supposed obligation to pay fines immediately or risk arrest.
Confident that we would be notified by mail or be served with papers if we had any legitimate legal issues, we now hang up on these scammers and delete their voicemails.
If someone calls, text or emails you and claims to be law enforcement demanding immediate payment, you can bet it's a scam.
If you suspect that the call could be legitimate, then hang up and call the appropriate law enforcement agency using a publicly available phone number on the agency's website, not one given to you by a caller.
And since these scammers can be extremely convincing, we're having conversations with our parents and other family members, warning them of these scams and how persuasive the callers can be.
Popular scams to watch out for
The jury duty scam is a scary one, as human callers reach out and threaten you with arrest in a way that sounds convincing.
But there are many other types of scams making the rounds, especially during the holiday season. Here are a few popular scams people should be aware of:
- Fake shipping notifications. About once a week, I receive a text saying that I have a package that needs to be delivered, but the address is incomplete. The text also includes a link to an unfamiliar URL. These scammers are trying to gain your private information and have you download some sort of malware. Don't click on the links, delete these texts and block the numbers.
- Gift card fraud. Scammers like to demand payment in gift cards, which are not easily traceable. If someone asks you to pay them in gift cards, it's a sure sign that it's a scam.
- Robocall and text scams. These can take the form of shipping notifications, fake charities or travel scams offering a "free trip."
Tips for spotting a scam
Scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and many people who consider themselves to be vigilant are now at risk of becoming victims.
Here are a few red flags to watch out for:
- Demands for immediate payment. As with the jury duty scam, most scammers are looking for an immediate payout, before the victim has a chance to realize that it could be a scam or confer with someone else. Fines imposed by courts and other government agencies always have a payment period and an opportunity to appeal.
- Requests for gift cards. No legitimate business or government agency will ask for payment in the form of a gift card.
- The caller asks you to install an app. There are many scammers who pose as friendly representatives from a company, asking for your help in solving a problem with their software or your payment. The seemingly helpful caller will direct you to install an app on your phone that will solve your problem. If a caller tells you to install software on a device, then you know it's a scam aimed at stealing your identity and your money.
- Unwilling to accept a callback. If someone calls you claiming to be from a government agency, financial institution or a business that you have an existing relationship with, ask for their name and extension, and tell them that you would like to call them back. Their reaction will tell you everything, as scammers will strenuously object while a legitimate caller will understand and await your call. And always call back using a number from a verified source, not a number given to you by the inbound caller.
What to do if you're a victim of a scam
While it's not always possible to get your money back if you've been the victim of a scam, there are some steps that you can take.
If you make a payment with a debit or credit card, then you can contact the card issuer, tell them that it was a fraudulent charge and ask to have the transaction reversed. You can also try to do this if an unauthorized transfer was made from your bank account, but it's much harder if you authorized it. And unfortunately, cryptocurrency payments are typically not reversible.
If you gave a scammer your personal information, then you should go to IdentityTheft.gov to see what steps you can take, such as monitoring or freezing your credit. Finally, you should report a scam to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
English (US) ·