perfidy

Be aware that there is a new, and fairly clever identity theft scam being perpetrated on the unwary. The security officer here at work (I'm a contractor for a tendril of the Department of Justice anemone) sent everyone this email:

In this scam, the scammer calls the residence or office number of the victim and identifies themselves as an officer or employee of the local court of jurisdiction. The scammer announces to the victim, that he/she has failed to report for jury duty, and that a bench warrant was issued against them for their arrest. The victim's reaction is one of shock and surprise which places them at an immediate disadvantage, and much more susceptible to the scam. The victim will rightly deny knowledge of any such claim; that no jury duty notification was ever received.

The scammer shifts into high gear, reassuring the victim of the possibility this is all "just a misunderstanding" or "some sort of clerical error" that can be straightened out on the phone. All they need to do is "verify" their information with a few simple questions. Any reluctance on the victim's part and the scammer will threaten that the failure to provide the information will result in an immediate execution of the arrest warrant. The scammer obtains names, social security numbers, dates of birth, and will solicit credit card or bank account numbers claiming these will be used by their credit bureau to "verify" the victim's identity. Family members who receive these calls are especially vulnerable to coercion. Threats against the victim's career, should he/she be arrested and now have a criminal record, are frightening and persuasive.

Employees and their adult family members must be made aware of this threat to their personal information and identities. Legitimate court employees will never call to solicit information, and would send any official notification by standard mail delivery. Any person receiving such calls should record the scammer's phone number (if Caller ID is available) and immediately report the contact to law enforcement officials.

I believe that most of our readership is fairly savvy, techwise, and not exactly prone to being duped by this sort of thing. Nevertheless, forewarned is forearmed.