Sheriff Warns of New Jury Duty Scam Circulating in the Hudson Valley

Here we go again.

Another new scam is making its way around parts of the Hudson Valley while other scams are back on the rise.

New Jury Duty Scam Making Its Way Around The Hudson Valley

Lets be honest with ourselves, we don't like finding out we've been called for Jury Duty. Many of us probably wish it was a scam.

However, there is a new scam on the rise in Dutchess County where scammers are using jury duty as their way to target their victims.

According to the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office the scammers are calling victims and telling them that they have failed to report for jury duty.  Then, the scammers will "attempt to solicit money" from the victims to "avoid the consequences for missing the fake jury duty."

One should note that agencies will never call and demand money or personal information over the phone. They add "Law enforcement also does not contact people about jury duty."

The Dutchess County Sheriff's Office is once again reminding the community on what to be on the lookout for to avoid getting scammed in the future.

Dutchess County Sheriff's Office Tips To Avoid Future Scams

In a recent press release the Dutchess County Sheriff's Office detailed several ways to keep yourself safe from scammers.

Here are a few tips and tricks to identify if you're being scammed and how to avoid them.

• If you're contacted by someone you don't know asking for money, for any reason, it's very likely a scam.
• If you receive correspondence from someone that you don't know and they instruct you to keep the matter confidential and not tell anyone about it, it's most likely a scam.
• Emails or text messages that contain misspelled words, grammatical errors, don't make sense, or are sent at odd hours - for example the middle of the night - are most likely scams.

The Sheriff's Office adds "Legitimate law enforcement would not attempt to satisfy a warrant or make promises to avoid prosecution by soliciting money."

If you every receive and email or text about an order you didn't place, DO NOT click on any links in the message and don't call any numbers in the message. Police suggest calling the companies number directly.

For a full list of scams to be on the look out for take a look at the Dutchess County Sheriff's Facebook page.

What To Do If You Receive a Scam Message

The Dutchess County Sheriff's Office stresses that you should never "send any money to anyone that you don't know until you've confirmed the situation through an independent source and feel comfortable with it."

Getting money back in scamming situations has proven to be very difficult "and most times impossible."

If you or someone you know thinks they are getting scammed contact the Sheriff's Office at 845-486-3800, you can also call the tip line at 845-605-CLUE or reach out by email dcsotips@gmail.com