Arrest Warrant/Court scams have been around for many years and still claim victims: An email or phone call or text informs someone that they are in trouble with the law. “A federal court has issued an arrest warrant in your name! An officer will be at your door soon to take you away.” Or it may be a felony charge and a hefty fine for some missed jury duty. In any case, if you pay the caller or emailer now, then the charges will go supposedly go away and they will call off the arrest.
If you get this kind of call/email, please know that US courts and officers will never contact you urgently for immediate payment. No one is actually coming to arrest you. The charges are made up and do not exist. Disconnect from any call resembling this scheme. Delete/mark as spam any email you receive about this. Contact your local police station if you have any doubts.
Hallmarks of this Scam
- The caller pressures you to pay now, before the officer gets to your house to cuff you and stuff you. High pressure tactics are common with scammers. The US Court System is slow as molasses, and would never do this to you.
- The scammer asks for payment using Google Play cards or Walmart gift cards. No government entity wants these things! Anyone demanding a store card like this is always a scammer.
- “You are welcome to satisfy your court debt using Zelle or Cash App!” Again, these payment methods are not used with the government. These quick-pay methods are for use with friends and family only.
- They demand that you remain on the line with them. They won’t let you off the phone. They don’t want you to contact anyone else. They warn you not to tell anyone why you are doing the things you are told to do. They want you to continue the call with them, even as they direct you to drive somewhere!
- The supposed charges are for outlandish crimes you know you haven’t committed, like Illegal Drug Sales in New Mexico or Vehicular Manslaughter in NYC or worse.
Also please consider:
- Arrest Warrant and Court Scams may employ call spoofing, and your CallerID may show something convincing, like IRS, US Federal Courts or Attorney General’s Office. Please do not believe your CallerID!
- Scammers often have your full name, address, phone number and other sensitive info. They’ve acquired it using public-info websites or from data breaches. They may “confirm” that info with you as an intimidation tactic or to give credence to their story.
- If you are emailed any convincing-looking “court summons” documents or citations, feel free to run them by your local police or court officials. (They’ll probably chuckle as they point out to you all of the tells in the forgeries.) Do not call any numbers from the documents or email. Find their contact info through other means, or just stop by the local police station.
- Real court summons and citations would arrive via certified mail or by a sheriff/process server knocking on your door.
Besides email and text, there is a different court-related email threat. I just received this today:
This message is differently dangerous. It is still a sham and a lie, but anyone fooled by this is at risk of downloading a RAT, allowing scammers to remotely access to their PC!