Jury coordinators in Pierce County have received several reports this week of scammers working the phones to trick residents into believing they owe a fine for missing jury duty.

Here’s what to look out for:

An unsuspecting person receives a call informing them that they have missed their summons to come to Jury Duty and now have a warrant out for their arrest. They are told the only way to fix the situation is to purchase a cash card from the store, call back a phone number they are given and provide the scammer the numbers on the card. Within minutes the scammers have received the money.

One local man was told he missed his Jury Duty notice twice and now had several fines against him, including a fine for Failure to Appear and Contempt of Court. His “fines” totaled $2,500. He followed the instructions he was given and went to a store, purchased the Visa-style cash cards, dutifully called the scammer’s phone number and gave them the numbers on his cash cards.

Please keep in mind that Pierce County jury coordinators will not call residents. Those summoned for Jury Duty will receive official notices in the mail.