The Chittenden County Sheriff’s Department says it has has received more than 30 complaints of a phone scam involving jury duty.
The callers inform residents that they have missed jury duty and an arrest warrant will be issued unless they pay $978.98 through a wire transfer or a prepaid credit card.
Crystal Baldwin, an employee of the Attorney General’s Consumer Assistance Program, said that there have been 13 reports of this scam since March 2014.
“The biggest scam we receive complaints for is the IRS scam, where someone pretends to be from the IRS,” she said.
According to a Friday news release, the caller claims to be a deputy sheriff with the civil division of the Chittenden County Sheriff’s Office or an elected official in the Vermont court system and the names of actual local deputies or local elected officials are used.
Neither local law enforcement nor staff in the Vermont court system would ask someone to pay a fine if they missed jury duty, according to the news release.
In some cases, the caller leaves a voicemail with a callback number, which is linked to a recorded message saying it is the office of the civil division of the Chittenden County Sheriff’s Office, according to the release. This recording is part of the scam, the release says.
The sheriff’s office did not respond to request for comment.