Jury duty phone scam reported in Callaway County

A phone scam involving jury duty has been reported in Callaway County.

Officials with the 13th Circuit Court said they have received phone calls from residents saying they have gotten calls asking for money for allegedly failing to appear for jury service.

This is not a new scam, but authorities said the scammers have changed their tactics.

Most recently individuals have been contacted at work with the person on the phone saying a specific judge is upset and has signed a warrant for their arrest. The phone number that appears on caller ID may even look like it is a call from the sheriff; but, according to the Federal Communications Commission, that can be done through "caller ID spoofing."

These scams arise periodically and usually involve making a person go to a store to purchase some type of gift card (recently it was a "Google Play" card) then read the card number over the phone. That is all the scammer needs to get the money, according to authorities.

Some people have reportedly given the scammers thousands of dollars in gift cards.

Court officials emphasized they will never call a person and ask them to pay for failing to appear for jury service, and noted that if someone calls and starts to ask for money for failing to appear for jury service, you should hang up immediately.

If you are concerned after hanging up, call the court at 573-886-4099 or call the Callaway County sheriff at 573-642-7291.