The Dallas FBI has recently received multiple reports from East Texas residents regarding an ongoing jury duty telephone scam.

It begins when the scammer, posing as a law enforcement officer or court official, calls a victim to advise that he/she is delinquent from serving federal jury duty but can avoid arrest by paying a fine over the phone.

The scammer provides information like titles and badge numbers of legitimate law enforcement officers or court officials; names of federal judges; courtroom numbers; and addresses in an attempt to make the scam credible.

The public is reminded that this is not protocol of the federal court system. This is a scam. The public should not provide personal identifying information or payment over the phone without independently verifying the credentials of any caller.

If you believe you may be a victim of the jury duty scam, identity theft, or other scheme and wish to report it to law enforcement, please file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at www.ic3.gov and your local law enforcement agency.