Jury scam targets everyone — even law enforcers

Jury scam targets everyone — even law enforcers

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PROVO — Those behind the ongoing jury warrant scam will apparently try to con anyone … including one of the top investigators in the Utah County Attorney's Office.

Scott Finch is a sergeant with the Utah County Attorney Office's Bureau of Investigations. He has 31 years of law enforcement experience.

In November, Finch received a call from a person claiming to be a lieutenant in the Utah County Sheriff's Office.

"The male individual I talked to said I missed a court date for jury service and a warrant of arrest was issued for me. He stated for me to avoid arrest I needed to come to the sheriff's department," according to a search warrant recently unsealed in 4th District Court. "I also needed to bring a bond that was refundable. The bond needed to be posted to 'uplift' the warrant so they would not have to process my arrest. I would then need to fill out a statement form for the clerk that would dismiss the warrant and a refund would be issued for the bond before I would leave."

The caller told Finch to bring about $2,000.

"He would continually put me on hold during our conversation stating he had to take an emergency call, he would rustle papers and act like he was talking with someone in the background as if he was in a dispatch center," the warrant states. "I told him I work in Provo and I could walk to the Health and Justice office and meet him. He said that is not how this worked. He said I would be arrested, and when I challenged him on this he hung up."

Finch personally knows the lieutenant that the man was claiming to be, and knew it was not him.

"The call I received is a known phone scam that has been going around," the warrant states.

After tracing the number that the man called from, Finch determined it belonged to a man who was in jail at the time of the call. He does not believe that man made the call.

The investigation into the caller remained ongoing over the weekend.

For over a year, law enforcers from several jurisdictions, including Salt Lake and Utah counties, have warned residents not to fall victim to the jury scam. The callers sound convincing because they use the names of real officers and tell potential victims to meet in the parking lots of actual law enforcement buildings, investigators warn.

However, police say they will never call someone and ask for money or tell someone to meet them at a certain location to give them money.

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Pat Reavy

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