New Milford Police Issue Scam Alert

Information via New Milford Police

NEW MILFORD, CT — In various parts of the United States, including Connecticut, citizens are being targeted by phone calls threatening them with arrest for a missed summons for jury duty in court. The callers have impersonated court officials, U.S. Marshals, and other state and federal law enforcement officers and have telephoned random victims to convince them to pay a fine to avoid arrest for failing to appear for jury duty. The callers insisted that their victims arrange to pay cash or pre-paid credit cards. Fraudulent callers sometimes disguise their phone numbers so that they appear to be court or law enforcement numbers on the recipients' caller ID. They also may transfer victims during the calls to create the illusion that they are speaking with government offices. These phone calls are fraudulent and if you receive one, please hang up. Typically, jurors who miss jury duty will be contacted by the Clerk’s Office and may, in certain circumstances, be ordered to appear in court before a judge. Any fine for failure to appear for jury duty will be imposed by a judge during an open session of court, and the summoned juror will be given the opportunity to explain the failure to appear.

If anyone is contacted or has been contacted by someone requesting such payments, please do not make the payment as it is a scam.