Keep your personal info private!

Here is a scam my husband got a notice about from work:

Identity theft scammers are finding new ways to get information from individuals. The latest example is the jury duty scam.

The scammer calls claiming to work for the local court and claims you have failed to report for jury duty. They tell you that a warrant has been issued for your arrest. The victim will often rightly claim they never received the jury duty notification. The scammer then asks the victim for confidential information, such as a Social Security number and birth date, for "verification" purposes.

In reality, court workers will never call you to ask for Social Security numbers and other private information. In fact, most courts follow up via snail mail and rarely, if ever, call prospective jurors.

You should never give out your Social Security number, credit card numbers or other personal information when you receive a telephone call. This jury duty scam is the latest in a series of identity theft scams where scammers use the phone to try to get people to reveal their personal information.

Protecting yourself is simple: Never give this information out when you receive a phone call.

I can see how some people might get taken in by this. Be careful out there.

---Katie