BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer

LONG BRANCH — The city police department is warning residents of the latest identity theft scam — the jury duty scam.

According to Detective Lt. Bruce Johantgen, scammers are calling people at their homes claiming to work for the local court and telling residents they have failed to report for jury duty and a warrant has been issued for their arrest.

The victim generally responds that they never received the jury duty notification whereupon the scammer asks for confidential information for verification purposes.

The scammer then asks for the victim’s Social Security number, birth date and, in some instances, credit card numbers, which is the information needed to commit identity theft, according to Johantgen.

This scam has been reported in Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Washington State.

Court workers will never call a residence and ask for a social security number and their private information, according to Johantgen, who said most courts follow up via snail mail.

To avoid being victimized, the police department is advising residents never to give confidential personal information to someone who calls their residence.