Scam Alert – Jury Duty Phone Calls
When it's cold outside, the scammers get on the phones. Angelina County Sheriff's Department has had a high volume of calls about jury duty scams. A man is calling and giving his name as Detective Shane Calahan with the Angelina County Sheriff's Department. Then he proceeds to explain that have missed jury duty, and have a warrant out.
Scammers have gotten really good at spoofing numbers, and it's not that hard. Anyone can look up how to do it on the internet. These calls could be coming from anywhere, but when it gets to your phone it's a 936 area code. I have personally gotten unsolicited calls from numbers that were actually in my phone already.
Just know that these calls are not real, and that they are a phishing scam. They will instruct you to go to a CVS and get a prepaid debit/credit card, aka green dot. The Angelina County Sherrif's office has gotten 8 callers just since 12 noon today.
Just know that anyone calling you about any official business that needs money from you is not going to collect this way. Before you do anything, always call the business or agency after they hang up if they are trying to get funds from you. I can guarantee, getting a prepaid debit/credit card never leads to anything legit.