“I’m Not an Idiot” — Woman Shocked at Skill Con Artists Demonstrated in Missed Jury Duty Scam

Con artists are utilizing a missed jury duty scare tactic that is so well-rehearsed that it might just trick people into forking over tons of cash. Distractify reported on a previous instance where someone else nearly succumbed to this trick.

Now, another woman recently posted about her close call with the con in a viral social media clip. In it, she delineates how far scammers went to sell her a lie. And she wants to make sure others don't potentially fall into the same trap.

The video was uploaded by a woman who says she is "not a TikToker" and expressed zero interest in posting loads of content to the popular social media application.

Nonetheless its subject matter garnered interest from fellow users, raking in over 926,000 views.

She begins her story time by stating she received a call from a local number.

Although she didn't recognize who the caller was, she picked up because she was awaiting communication from an electrician. Seeing the local area code, she answered the phone. The individual on the other end of the line said that they were a police officer, which she initially believed.

She assumed that the phone call was a request for holiday-time donations to the local police department, but soon learned that this wasn't the case.

That's because the person who claimed to be a law enforcement officer informed her that she had failed to show up for jury duty.

Consequently, "three misdemeanor charges" were placed on her record. In order to clear up the matter, she was instructed to head right over to her local county's Sheriff's office to address the issue. The caller also stressed that time was of the essence — since she established contact, that contact couldn't be broken due to a "gag order."

Initially, she "pushed back" against the caller stating that the situation "didn't feel real." This didn't seem to deter the con artist, however, who said that he would put her on the phone with his captain.

Following this exchange, another individual hopped onto the phone in order to help further sell the scam.

She was informed that she indeed did miss jury duty, which she mentally noted could be a possibility due to USPS losing mail in the past. So she stayed on the phone with the individual at their behest, "dropped everything" and got in her car to head down to the sheriff's office.

Furthermore, she stated that the con was peppered with additional details that made it feel legitimate.

Like when she was expressing her agitation on the phone, they asked if she was all right and if they needed to send an EMT to her location. Once she was in her vehicle, they asked her for her odometer information and what her ETA was.

It's at this point in the scam that things took a turn. A clerk at the county office got on the phone to tell her that the issue was more grievous than they originally thought.

As a result, if she did show up at the Sheriff's office, she'd be jailed for three days. At this point, you can probably see where the "ask" part of the con comes into play. It was only a matter of time before they proposed a solution to escape being jailed: and that's if she forked over some cash.

Payment, they said, would be handled by a bail bondsman. She could then take her receipt from the bondsman to the Sheriff's office, and she would be refunded for the amount she paid and they'll clear the charges on her record.

The TikToker noted further intricacies that made the scam feel legitimate, even though she continued to push back and told them the entire situation seemed fishy.

According to her, the scammers were able to make their phone numbers appear as if they were coming from her local county sheriff's office. Furthermore, she added that while she had her doubts, she acknowledged there was a possibility she was faced with a conundrum. And that was to either pay $1,200 to these scammers and avoid jail time, or get locked up for three days.

She said that she wanted to talk to her husband about it first, but they reminded her that she was under a gag order and couldn't speak to anyone else or get off the phone.

He then instructed her to go to a machine in a CVS where she could make a secure payment. The scammer said that this system was utilized so offenders can maintain their anonymity.

However, upon entering the local pharmacy location and seeing the machine, she noticed there was an option to send payments via Bitcoin. And it's at this point where it was pretty much solidified in her mind that this was a con job. So she kept the man on the phone, who kept calling out to her. She didn't respond to his exhortations, however, and elected to instead get in her car and drive to the Sheriff's office.

Upon entering the building, she encountered a receptionist and informed them that someone was on the phone claiming to be from the Sheriff's office. Next, the TikTok user asked the employee if there were any warrants out for her arrest, but noticed that the scammer hung up the phone.

She clarified that she's "not an idiot" and "pushed back several times." But each time she did, the scammers did indeed have a planned response to her doubts. The would-be scam victim said that she shared her video in order to help spread awareness of this type of scam.

The Federal Trade Commission has written about this known con on its website, noting that it can also come in email form. Moreover, the FTC clarifies that there isn't a single government bureau that demands payment from individuals immediately over the phone.

And then there's the mode of payment. "Only scammers insist that you can only pay with gift cards, a payment app, cryptocurrency, or a wire transfer service like Western Union or MoneyGram because it’s very hard to get your money back if you pay in these ways."

If you are faced with a situation where someone states they're a government official contacting you via the phone, inquire which office they are phoning you from. Then, hang up and dial the agency directly to get to the bottom of whether or not the request is legitimate.