Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo issued an alert about a jury duty scam targeting residents by telephone.  There has been a recent resurgence in the use of this scam that has been practiced repeatedly in the past.  There are variations on the scam.  Recently, the bogus callers claimed that the call recipient owed a fine for failing to appear for jury duty.  The caller claimed that a warrant would be issued if the person did not follow instructions for paying the fine.  The caller directed the person to go to a pharmacy and purchase MoneyPak card.  The caller then requested the MoneyPak card number to confirm its validity and stole the card balance electronically.  The scam artists often manipulate caller ID so that it appears that the call originated from a county office.

Authentic jury notifications, including failure to appear notices, are almost exclusively delivered by mail.  A prospective juror may receive a telephone call from Dauphin County Court Administration or the Jury Manager's Office to reschedule, but a prospective juror would never be asked for payment in any form over the telephone.  In addition, court staff would never ask for a prospective juror's social security number.  If you have any information regarding these scams, please contact Detective Roxanne Snider of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Dauphin County District Attorney's Office at (717) 780-6216.