Crime & Safety

Newport Beach Police Warn of Jury Duty Scam

if you get a call from the "Orange County Warrant Division," you need to know it doesn't exist.

From the Newport Beach Police Department:

Multiple Newport Beach residents have received phone calls this week from a scam artist claiming to work at the “Orange County Warrant Division.” This entity does NOT exist and is completely fabricated.

The caller identifies himself with a fictitious name and official-sounding title. He tells victims that they have failed to appear for jury duty and threatens to have them arrested unless they provide payment via Green Dot Money Pak cards.

Find out what's happening in Newport Beach-Corona Del Marwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Green Dot Money Pak cards are reloadable debit cards, which are not linked to a specific bank account. They are virtually untraceable once money is loaded onto the card. 

In one of these cases, a resident's caller ID showed that the call was coming from 949-554-4827. This appears to be an unidentified cellular phone number and is not from an official government agency.

Find out what's happening in Newport Beach-Corona Del Marwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Residents should be wary of anyone attempting to collect a debt by telephone or through prepaid/reloadable debit cards. Under no circumstances should you follow through with any such request for payment.  

If you receive such a phone call, you can contact Orange County Jury Services at 657-622-7000 to verify your jury duty status.


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