Fake Arrest Warrant Phone Scam Hits Harris County

HOUSTON, TX — Harris County officials are reporting that phone scammers are targeting individuals by alerting them that they've missed jury duty and an arrest warrant has been issued as a result. The caller offers to let you settle the issue over the phone by wiring funds or using a debit card.

If you get a call like the one described above, hang up, says Harris County District Clerk Chris Daniel.

Daniel said the phone scammers are primarily targeting senior citizens and new immigrants, but he knows of one case in which a lawyer was conned.

"And it wasn’t until after the fact that he made a second phone call to double-check but by then it was too late," Daniel told Houston Public Media. "He was out a thousand bucks.”"

Attorney Attorney Keith Woods fell for the scam in August of 2016. "The person on the other end will sound very official," Woods told KUHF. "He basically told me that the next day when I would go to court, a good chance the bailiff would pull me aside, with my clients there, and arrest me for the warrants that were issued. And I could not have that."

The "missed jury duty scam" is not new, but it has intensified recently. The callers are even using actual names of county officials and elected officials in the ploy.

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Officials said that individuals should never provide payment over the phone for anything involving court or police issues. In addition, Social Security numbers should never be divulged.

To report this scam, or any suspicious telephone call, contact the District Court at 713-755-7500, or the sheriff's office at 713-221-6000.

— Image: Wikimedia Commons