The phone rang just as Joyce Karasienski was about to sit down to dinner with her family. The caller told her he was contacting her from the county courthouse and that because she had missed jury duty that week, a warrant was being issued for her arrest.

But to the 50-year-old from Sterling Heights, Mich., "it didn't make sense, because just three months earlier I received a summons for jury duty by mail—and was then excused for medical reasons," she says. "I still had the doctor's note to prove it."

When Karasienski protested, the caller readily conceded that perhaps a mistake had been made. He said the local judge had given him a list of jury no-shows about to be arrested—and it included her name and address.

"So he asked me to confirm my Social Security number, to 'verify my identity,' " says Karasienski, whose phone number and address are listed in the local telephone directory. "I was suspicious, since I figured if they were going to arrest me, why not just show up at my door? Who calls with an advance warning … and around 7 p.m., when the courthouse is closed?"

Her doubts were confirmed after she asked him for a fax telephone number at the courthouse where she could send the paperwork proving her absence was excused. "The number he gave me had been disconnected," she says. "It was a scam trying to solicit my Social Security number."

And a common one, it seems. After originating in upstate New York in 2001, this phone fakery—an identity theft con that tries to scare citizens into divulging personal information such as their birth dates and bank and credit card account numbers—is back with a vengeance. Incidences have been reported in at least 15 states, prompting warnings from officials across the country.

"We are especially concerned about seniors who may get these calls," says Laura Lang of the Orange County Sheriff's Office in Orlando, Fla. "They are more likely to provide their Social Security numbers over the phone—especially when threatened with a fine or arrest for failing to appear for jury duty."

This scam can appear authentic because con artist callers use telephone "spoofing" products—widely sold on the Internet—which allow them to choose any telephone number they want and have it displayed on a recipient's caller ID.

Sheldon Snook of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.—whose juries can be filled only by city residents—says that at least 15 people have reported getting telephone calls alleging they were jury-duty scofflaws. Some who got calls even lived in other states and wouldn't be called for D.C. jury duty in the first place. "Their caller ID indicates the calls are coming from our courthouse," says Snook, "but [the scammers] seem to be spoofing our phone number."

Authentic jury-duty notifications—as well as "no-show" summonses—are almost always delivered by mail. And in rare instances when local, state or federal judicial officials do telephone, they never ask for personal information such as Social Security numbers, date of birth or driver's license number, says David Wintrode, FBI supervisory special agent for financial crimes.

"Do not feel compelled to provide personal information over the telephone just because caller ID indicates the call originated from a courthouse," Wintrode warns. "It is possible that identity thieves can use it to open new accounts in the victim's name."

If you do receive a phone call about jury duty, report it to your courthouse or state attorney general's office.

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