Washington, DC--Congressman Eliot Engel warned that there is a resurgence of the ‘jury duty’ scam and said that no one should ever give away personal information in an unsolicited telephone call.

Rep. Engel said, “The scam works with a phone call in which the caller identifies himself as an officer of the court and says a warrant is out for your arrest because you failed to report for jury duty. You say you never received a notice. To clear it up, the caller says he'll need some information for ‘verification purposes’- your birth date, social security number, maybe even a credit card number.

“This is when you should hang up the phone,” he said. “It's a scam. With this information, scammers can assume your identity and empty your bank accounts.

Rep. Engel said the scam has seen a resurgence in recent months with the FBI reporting it in more than a dozen states, including New York. As a rule, court officers never ask for confidential information over the phone.

“The scam's bold simplicity may be what makes it so effective,” said Rep. Engel. “It puts people on the defensive facing the unexpected threat of arrest, so, caught off guard, they may part with information to defuse the situation.”

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