A Jacksonville woman is warning others after she was targeted by a convincing jury duty scam.
The caller, posing as a Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) officer, used scare tactics and a spoofed official phone number to try to trick her into paying thousands of dollars in bogus fines.
Shelby Anderson said she received a call from a man claiming to be Captain Clinton Clifford. He told her she had failed to appear for jury duty, resulting in three citations—each costing $1,000.
“He told me that I had citations for failure to appear, contempt of court, and avoidance of civic duties. He said I needed to come down and pay them immediately,” Anderson said. “He gave me his badge number, and he said that I had some citations under my name, and I needed to get them cleared right away.”
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The caller insisted that Anderson remain on the line while being transferred to a supposed bail bondsman. She was pressured to pay quickly.
“He didn’t want me to hang up or mute my phone. He even told me I wasn’t allowed to call anyone else,” Anderson recalled.
To make the scam appear more legitimate, the caller spoofed JSO’s non-emergency number. Anderson said the caller ID actually showed JSO was calling.
“That’s when I thought, maybe this is real,” Anderson said. “The initial phone call, there was no caller ID. And I asked him why, and he said, ‘Oh, well, we do that to protect our number, but I’m gonna call you right now from the non-emergency number, and you can answer.' So he did, and the number showed up, and it did say Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.”
Luckily, Anderson started to sense something was off when the caller refused to let her verify his identity through the non-emergency line.
Realizing the situation was suspicious, she hung up and immediately contacted JSO directly.
“They told me JSO will never ask for money over the phone. That’s when I knew I had to report it.”
Anderson is now speaking out to prevent others from falling victim to similar scams.
Scammers will often use official-looking numbers and intimidation tactics to deceive victims. JSO advised that if you receive a suspicious call demanding money for missed jury duty, hang up and contact JSO directly to verify.
JSO also doesn’t have “captains” which is what this scammer claimed to be.