Austin locals have lately recorded a high number of scam phone calls demanding payment. According to the scam, this works by the victim receiving a phone call. Here, the caller claims that you have missed jury duty and must pay a fine or go to jail. The caller then asks for payment by phone which is a massive red flag as they don’t accept payment in person (at the sheriff’s office).

As is the case with all scams, if you ask them for certain details or give a little pushback, their story quickly falls apart. Now, here’s how we know it’s a definite scam. The caller claimed to be called ‘Captain Sherman’. The person telling the original story decided to call their sheriff’s office and asked for ‘Captain Sherman.’ at this point, “The woman at reception asked if I was calling about “jury duty”. I said that I was, and she immediately said that it was a scam. She’s had 5 of these just today.”

Now, although this scam may seem very futile, they only need a small percentage to work in order to make big profits. The caller claimed that there were two fines to pay, totaling $1000 which is obviously a sizeable amount of money.

It turns out that this phone call has been made recently to lots of Austin residents, so you have been warned not to take it seriously. Always remember when someone presses you for money – that you should stay calm and try to think rationally instead of panicking. At that point, you’re more likely to make a sensible decision and make less mistakes.