In various counties in the Eastern District of Washington, citizens are being targeted by phone calls and emails threatening prosecution for failure to appear for federal grand jury service. Individuals claiming to be “County Deputies” advise that the potential juror/citizen failed to appear for jury duty and as a result, a warrant has been issued for their arrest unless they pay a fine. In order to pay the fine, the potential juror/citizen is instructed to purchase a pre-paid money card or "verified bond voucher."

Federal law enforcement will never contact a juror by e-mail or phone and request personal information or the payment of a fine. If a juror fails to appear for jury duty, the court will make contact with the juror by mail. The written correspondence will direct the juror to contact the jury office to explain the failure to appear and to reschedule their service. Federal law enforcement and court staff will never initiate phone calls or emails requesting personal information or payment from potential jurors/citizens.

Warrant for Arrest 

• Neither the United States Marshals Service nor the United States District Court, will ever call to request payment of fines over the telephone. If you are contacted by someone who says there is a warrant for your arrest related to missed federal jury duty, subpoena or other offenses, do not make any payments to them. Instead, please review the instructions below in the Resources section.

Methods and Tactics of the Fraud

• The caller may use a variety of tactics to sound credible.  They may instruct you to mail the prepaid cards to a specific judge or to report to your local courthouse with the prepaid debit cards.  They may provide information like badge numbers, case numbers, names of actual law enforcement officials, public servants, and federal judges.  They may also spoof their phone numbers to appear on Caller ID as if they are calling from a courthouse or a government agency like the U.S. Marshals Service.

• The caller may identify themselves as an officer with local law enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Service or federal judge. They may instruct you to wire money or purchase prepaid debit cards, such as a Green Dot card or gift cards, and ask you to read the card numbers over the phone to pay your fines in order to avoid arrest. They may also instruct you to make a payment at a Bitcoin ATM by depositing cash, using your debit or credit card, or scanning a QR code at the ATM.

• A more recent tactic employed by fraudulent callers involves targeting medical professionals stating that they have missed a subpoena to testify in a trial. The callers direct the target to bring their passport and cash to a location purportedly affiliated with the Court or Sheriff's Office in order to avoid loss of medical license, or jail time.

Reporting the calls:  

• Please report the call to your local FBI office and file a consumer complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).  The FTC has the ability to detect larger patterns of fraud and share that data with law enforcement.

If you have received a suspicious e-mail or phone call, DO NOT give any information to the caller. Please contact the Court’s Jury Office at 509.458.3400.