Greensboro, NC -- As hard as you work to scrap and save for every dollar you have, there are thieves working harder to scheme you out of your money.
Now, comes a warning on how they're using jury duty to trick you out of your personal information.
The fear of failing to answer your call to jury duty is how they get you over the phone.
Their solution is for you to give them your social security number and a credit card number to pay a fine and avoid an arrest.
So before you think it through, you give in, and Guilford County Sheriff's Office Financial Crimes Investigator, Craig Cotten said there goes whoever it was on the other line to create a financial tsunami in your name.
"That does anger me absolutely, but you also have a huge amount of sympathy for the people who fall for it because they didn't mean to. It's one of those things if they had ten more seconds to stop and think about this they wouldn't have done it," explained Cotten.
The FBI reports jury schemes have been around for years.
Investigators remind you that as a rule court officers respond to prospective jurors through the mail and never ask for confidential information over the phone.
Cotten said never give out your personal information to anyone if they called you first. Ask if you can call them back and hang up. Then look up the number to the Clerk of Court or magistrate and call them back yourself. It's the safest way to protect your personal information and verify if there was ever any problem with your jury duty role in the first place.
WFMY News 2