FBI Honolulu
Honolulu Media Office
(808) 566-4300
July 7, 2014

FBI Warns of Jury Duty Scam

Vida G. Bottom, Special Agent  in Charge of the Honolulu Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), would like to issue the following warning to all Hawaii residents concerning a telephone scam.

This scam begins when someone, posing as a deputy, contacts the victim via telephone. The deputy provides his name and a badge number in hopes of legitimizing the call and advises the victims that they are delinquent from federal jury duty and will be arrested immediately.

In order to avoid arrest, the deputy advises the victim that they can pay a fine. They are instructed to go to Longs Drug Store and obtain a $500 “green dot” money order. The victim is also provided with a local telephone number to call. Once the victim has obtained the money order, they are instructed to call the number and provide the numbers located on the back of the money order.

The people promoting the scam will provide names of federal judges, courtroom numbers, addresses, etc. in an attempt to make the scam believable.

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 over the phone and need to verify the veracity of the call before providing any form of payment.

If anyone should receive a call as described above, please contact the Honolulu FBI at 808-566-4300.