Pittsburgh-area woman warns of jury duty scam phone call

CBS News

4 days ago

A Pittsburgh-area woman wants to warn others about what she calls a very concerning scam phone call. It involved spoofed phone numbers and very detailed personal information.
She reached out to KDKA Consumer Investigator Meghan Schiller in hopes of spreading the word.
Melissa Stalder works from home in Upper St. Clair and the phone's always ringing. That's why when a strange number popped up, she didn't think twice.
"A gentleman was on the phone and he said, 'This is Sergeant Darin and you were supposed to report to jury duty this morning in federal court and you didn't, so there's now a bench warrant out for your arrest," said Stalder.
She said the man claimed he worked in law enforcement with the local courts downtown.
"I believed him. He gave me a citation number and he gave me the Tango Alpha Charlie with the number, and then he said I have to bring a passport, an ID, a proof of address," she said.
When she questioned if he was calling the wrong person, she said, "He had my address, he had my full name, he said that I am an upstanding citizen without any other prior convictions or issues with the law, which is true."
He told Stalder she'd soon receive a phone call to pay the fines and sure enough, a spoofed call with "Allegheny County" appeared on the caller ID moments later.
"And I asked that gentleman his name and I asked him to spell it and he got very irate and nasty and called me names and I said, 'if you're going to behave this way when I'm just asking a couple questions, I don't think this is right.'"
Her intuition was right.
Her husband later called the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office, and they found no record of Stalder missing any jury duty or owing any fines.
KDKA Investigates forwarded Stalder's message to the DA's office and they said this is considered a courts fine scam. The Allegheny County Sheriff's Office recently issued public service announcements about the rise in the very scam.
"And they wanted you to pay how much?" KDKA's Meghan Schiller asked Stalder.
"Four thousand dollars! He said otherwise, I would be in contempt and would have to spend 30 days in jail," she said.
Stalder says it felt so convincing and she fears for others.
"When my husband and I talked about it afterwards, I was like, if they had called my mom, I think she would have paid it. And he said, he goes, I don't know what would have happened if they had called his parents or somebody that wasn't that aware or doesn't know that these scams happen so often."
Stalder said it freaked her out when the caller knew a lot of her personal information, including her name, address, birth date and criminal background or lack thereof.
She now wants everyone to be on the lookout for these calls because she could see these scammers scaring people out of a lot of money.