Jury Duty Phone Scam In Ocean County: Officials

Scammers have been calling Ocean County residents, threatening them with jail time and fines for failing to respond to jury duty, according to Ocean County Sheriff Michael G. Mastronardy. The perpetrators created phone numbers that appear to be calling from the county sheriff's department, officials said.

The scammers provide a false number for returning calls, officials said. Similar fake calls have been reported about violations of court mediation sessions, Mastronardy said.

"The problem is such that these scam artists have developed a relatively sophisticated set up where our residents are fooled by the telephone numbers they are seeing and are frightened into paying the scammers,” Mastronardy said in a statement.

Mastronardy said he spoke to one of the people involved in the scam. Ocean County Director of Law and Public Safety John P. Kelly told residents that if they get a call for money, they should independently whether they owe payment.

Ocean County residents can call 732-506-5060 to verify whether they were summoned for jury duty.

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