Jury duty scam: the "you missed jury duty" call, and how to check whether it's real

What the call sounds like

The caller says they are a U.S. Marshal or an officer from your local police department. They give a name and a badge number and say you failed to report for jury duty. There is a warrant for your arrest, they say, but you can settle it today by paying a fine.

Then comes the part that gives it away: how they want the money. A gift card or prepaid debit card, with the numbers read over the phone. A payment app. Cryptocurrency. A wire transfer.

The U.S. Marshals Service describes exactly this script, and warns that the scammers borrow real details to sound credible: badge numbers, the names of actual officers and federal judges, and real courthouse addresses. They can also make the caller ID show a real Marshals office number, a trick called *spoofing*. The FTC adds that the call can be followed by texts or emails carrying fake "documents".

Three facts that settle it

You don't need to decide whether the voice sounds real. These three facts are enough:

1. Courts write to you. According to the federal courts, most contact between a court and a prospective juror is by U.S. mail. When a real court official does call or email, they don't ask for sensitive information.
2. No court asks for payment over the phone. The FTC puts it plainly: courts never demand payment over the phone, and no government agency does. Real law enforcement will never text or email you an arrest warrant either.
3. The Marshals don't take card numbers. The U.S. Marshals Service says it will never ask for credit card, debit card or gift card numbers, wire transfers, or bank routing numbers, for any purpose.

So a caller who threatens arrest and wants payment now is running a scam, even if the caller ID shows a real court number.

How to check whether you really missed jury duty

1. Hang up. Don't argue and don't give them any information, not even to "confirm your identity".
2. Don't call back the number they gave you or the one on your caller ID. Both can be the scammer's.
3. Find the court's number yourself. For a federal court, look up the clerk of court's office for your district with the Federal Court Finder on uscourts.gov. For a state or county court, use the phone number on the court's own website.
4. Ask the clerk's office whether you were summoned and whether there is anything you owe. If there is a court order, the clerk can tell you whether it is real.

The email and text version

The federal courts have warned about juror scam emails for years. One version, reported in at least 14 federal court districts in 2014, said the recipient had been selected for jury service and demanded a form back with their Social Security number, driver's license number, date of birth, cell phone number, and mother's maiden name. It claimed to come from eJuror, the courts' real online juror system.

The courts' answer still holds: eJuror never asks for personal identification in an email reply, and a real request to fill in a juror questionnaire starts with a formal letter that tells you how to reach the court's secure site. Don't fill in the form and don't reply. If the message has a link to a "juror portal", a "court document" or a payment page, don't open it: paste the link into our checker first. We open it in a browser that isn't yours and tell you where it really goes, how old the site is, and whether it asks for a login or a payment.

If you already paid or gave them information

Act fast. These are the FTC's steps, by how you paid:

• Gift card or prepaid card: call the card's issuer on the number on the back of the card. Tell them a scammer tricked you into giving them the card number and PIN.
• Payment app: report it to the app right away and ask them to reverse the payment.
• Wire transfer (Western Union, MoneyGram): report it to the wire company and ask for a refund.
• Cryptocurrency: contact the exchange or the crypto ATM operator, tell them it was a fraudulent transaction, and ask them to reverse it.
• Your Social Security number: go to IdentityTheft.gov to report it and get a recovery plan.

The full list is on the FTC's page What To Do if You Were Scammed.

Report the call

Even if you didn't pay, a report helps the people who will get the same call tomorrow:

• The clerk of court's office for your area, so the court can warn others.
• The FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The U.S. Marshals also ask people to report these calls to their local FBI office, and say you can stay anonymous when you report.

Which report goes where, and in what order, is in our guide where to report a scam in the US.

Sources: U.S. Courts: Juror Scams · U.S. Courts: New juror scam seeks personal data (July 2014) · FTC: Ignore calls, texts, and emails threatening to arrest you for missing jury duty (June 2026) · U.S. Marshals Service: continuing scams spoofing law enforcement (September 2024)