[antimedia] antimedia: Jury Duty Scam....

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Posted by antimedia:
Jury Duty Scam....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1168570910.shtml


   ....A faithful reader wrote, tipping me off to a new identity-theft
   scam.

     This has been verified on Snopes.com (link listed below) and by the
     FBI (their link is also included below).
     Please pass this on to everyone in your email address book. It is
     spreading fast so be prepared should you get this call. Most of us
     take those summons for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip
     out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of scam has
     surfaced.
     Fall for it and your identity could be stolen, [1]reports CBS. In
     this con, someone calls pretending to be a court official who
     threateningly says a warrant has been issued for your arrest
     because you didn't show up for jury duty. The caller claims to be a
     jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received a summons
     for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number
     and date of birth so he or she can verify the information and
     cancel the arrest warrant. Give out any of this information and
     bingo! Your identity just got stolen.
     The scam has been reported so far in 11 states, including Oklahoma
     , Illinois , and Colorado . This (scam) is particularly insidious
     because they use intimidation over the phone to try to bully people
     into giving information by pretending they're with the court
     system. The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide
     alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.
     Check it out here:
     [2]Snopes
     [3]FBI

   If you're concerned about identity theft, you can purchase protection
   against it. I did. I was one of the "victims" of the VA laptop theft,
   so I purchased [4]Lifelock. I'm sure there are other similar services
   available, but I liked Lifelock's [5]$1 million guarantee against
   loss.
   A few days ago one of our credit card companies called to tell us that
   someone tried to use the card in Michigan. They wanted to verify the
   charge. Had they not done that, Lifelock would have protected us from
   loss anyway.

References

   1. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/11/22/earlyshow/living/ConsumerWatch/main1065769.shtml
   2. http://www.snopescom/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp
   3. http://www.fbigov/pressrel/pressrel05/092805.htm
   4. http://www.snopescom/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp
   5. http://www.lifelock.com/our-guarantee.aspx