Ada County plagued by 'jury duty,' 'fake arrest warrant' phone scams

BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Ada County continues to be plagued by scammers pretending to be local officials and telling them about future jury duty or an active arrest warrant on their name.

"Ada County Sheriff’s Office deputies will never call and threaten to arrest you because you have an outstanding arrest warrant — or civil judgment — or have a tax bill due — or missed jury duty — or anything like that," Ada County Sheriff's Office says.

Some scammers will call and tell individuals that they have an active arrest warrant and they need to place funds on a pre-paid card to cancel it. Some tell people to come to the police department and pay on a "kiosk" that does not exist.

"We’ve had numerous reports this week of scammers pretending to be ACSO deputies – one of the names they’ve used is “Sgt. Pat Calley,” who retired in 2019 — who use phone numbers with a 208 area code to sell the ruse," the Ada County Sheriff's Office says.

Other scammers will call and tell people they have missed jury duty.

All of these scams are meant to get money and/or information from people.

"In reality, if one of our deputies had to issue an arrest warrant or file a civil judgment, they would try to find you in person and leave cards with call-back numbers on them several times before calling – and that would be to set up a meet."

Officials say never give out information over the phone when you get an unsolicited call.

If you encounter a scammer, please call the Ada County Sheriff's Office at (208) 377-6790

ncG1vNJzZmihlJa1sLrEsKpnm5%2BifK%2Bx1qxmpaeTlrlwrcOaZJynpaPBunnPpZigrZWZeqPFjKOsq7FdmcK1xYyfmKSdXZa%2Fs7HSrWSwmaKnrq%2FAjKmfqKaVYsCkrcys