Woman Duped, Taunted By Jury Duty Scam In Fairfax

FAIRFAX, VA — A Fairfax woman fell victim to a familiar jury duty scam earlier this week in the 4200 block of Lamarre Drive, according to Fairfax Police. Here's the scam in a nutshell: You get a phone call saying you missed jury duty, there's a warrant out for your arrest and money is needed to rectify the situation. But this case was punctuated by a nasty taunt.

And that's just how it went down in Fairfax. Around 9:45 p.m., the victim reported she had a received a telephone call from a man who identified himself as a sergeant in the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office. He told her she had to pay cash for a bond on an arrest warrant for missing jury duty. She was told to buy money cards and call back with the numbers.

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So she bought the money cards and called the suspect back with the numbers. Then the suspect told her she had been "punked."

The FBI has tips to avoid the jury duty scam:

"The scam’s bold simplicity may be what makes it so effective. Facing the unexpected threat of arrest, victims are caught off guard and may be quick to part with some information to defuse the situation.
“They get you scared first,” says a special agent in the Minneapolis field office who has heard the complaints. “They get people saying, ‘Oh my gosh! I’m not a criminal. What’s going on?’” That’s when the scammer dangles a solution-a fine, payable by credit card, that will clear up the problem.

"With enough information, scammers can assume your identity and empty your bank accounts."

Bottom line: If you get such a call, hang up and call police.

Also in Thursday's Fairfax Police crime report:

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Incident / Case #…

Shoplifting

17-11109
9652 Main Street / Best Buy – On July19 at 2:07 PM a security officer reported that a juvenile male subject had been observed opening and concealing an item of merchandise. The suspect was identified as a 16 year old Lorton area youth. He was released to the custody of his adult brother. A juvenile petition for petit larceny was pending.

Shoplifting
17-11131
10308 Willard Way / Virginia ABC Store – On July 19at 8:20 PM a manager reported that a male subject who was in the store with two other individuals had taken a bottle of liquor from the store without paying. After leaving the store the three subjects departed the area in a vehicle.

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