Reports of Jury Duty Phone Scam Increase in Gwinnett

The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office assures you that “Lt. Pierson” is not trying to scam you out of your money.

The office said it met Monday with four women victims who reported receiving phone calls on Sunday from a “Lt. Pierson” from the sheriff’s office Warrants Division. “Lt. Pierson” was seeking payment of a fine for missing jury duty.

“Each victim was informed that she had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear for a jury summons and that to avoid arrest, she can pay the associated fine using a pre-paid debit card,” Deputy Shannon Volkodav said in a press release.

“Three of the victims followed the caller’s instructions and purchased Green Dot MoneyPak cards as instructed in the amounts of $525, $810 and $962.”

The fourth victim did not purchase a card.

The sheriff’s office says it has received a dozen similar scam reports over the past two weeks.
This type of scam is not new, nor isolated, to Gwinnett County. A caller poses as a law-enforcement officer, often impersonating an actual officer, and claims you can pay a fine to settle an outstanding arrest warrant with your name on it.

“The Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office continues to actively investigate these cases and warns the public to be wary of these callers, who are extremely convincing and have extensive knowledge of the local agency that they are impersonating,” Volkodav said in the release.

The sheriff’s office says you should consider any caller asking for fine money to be suspicious. No law enforcement office would ever solicit payments for fines over the phone

If you have received a phone call of this nature, call the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office Investigative Services Division at 770-619-6655.