The Malheur County Circuit Court is seeing an uptick in jury-related scams and is warning residents to be on guard.
Marilee Aldred, trial court administrator, said the scam starts with someone calling pretending to be a law enforcement or court official. The caller claims that the person failed to appear for jury duty and must immediately pay a fine to avoid arrest or clear a warrant.
The caller explains that payment can be made via wire transfers, prepaid debit cards or cryptocurrency. Aldred said the amount of money the scammers are requesting varies. In some instances, she said, they have told the person to pay as much as they can to get the “fine” reduced.
Aldred said Malheur County court officials have received more reports of people getting the scam calls. She said her office had reports of Malheur County jurors paying money to scammers out of fear of getting arrested.
She said there is nothing the court can do when people get duped.
Malheur County Circuit Court Judge Lung Hung said those called for jury duty in Oregon will receive an official postcard or letter in the mail.
“Oregon courts do not require payment or banking information to respond to your jury summons online,” Lung said. “Any website requesting such information is fake.”
Hung said law enforcement and the courts do not call, email or text jurors demanding money to avoid arrest or clear a warrant. He said Malheur County residents should ignore any such demands.
For those unsure if a message is legitimate, Aldred urged them to call her office at 541-473-5171.
“We want people to feel like they can trust the court,” she said.
News tip? Send your information to Steven Mitchell at [email protected].
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