OAKLAND COUNTY (WWJ) – Officials in Oakland County are warning of a new phone scam after two people went to turn themselves in for arrest, only to find out they had been duped.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard is telling residents to be wary of scams in which a caller “threatens your arrest or asks for a cash bond because you supposedly failed to appear for federal jury duty.”
The warning comes after authorities on Monday received two separate complaints by residents who went to the sheriff’s office to “turn themselves in for arrest warrants they soon learned did not exist.”
In each instance, the scam caller identified himself as a deputy with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and threatened the residents with arrest for failing to appear for jury duty in federal court.
The first resident said the caller told him there were two warrants for his arrest, while the second resident said the caller claimed there was a two-count warrant charging her with failure to appear.
The caller also demanded the second victim provide a $5,000 bond to avoid arrest. It was not clear whether the calls were made by the same person.
“These scams are nonstop with one common thread,” Bouchard said. “They always demand money over the phone in some form or fashion. No law enforcement agency would do that. Whether they say it is the Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, the IRS, or whatever the flavor of the day is, it is a scam! Hang up.”
Representatives from both the U.S. District Court – Eastern Michigan District in Detroit and Oakland County Circuit Court said delinquent jurors would be contacted by mail, never by phone.
“We would send a letter to their home address,” Circuit Court Administrator Richard Lynch said. “We would never call.”
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