Federal judge warning about costly jury duty scams in and around Wichita

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — Chief Judge Eric Melgren is warning about costly jury duty scams happening in and around Wichita.

According to the United States District Court, in the second week of May 2023, a Wichita man received a call notifying him that he had an arrest warrant for “Failure to Appear” in Melgren’s courtroom.

As the man was on his way to withdraw thousands of dollars, he decided to call the federal court to find out if the call was legitimate.

U.S. District Court jury staff in Wichita verified it was a scam. Court officials will never ask for cash, credit card information or social security
numbers.

“Fortunately, this person did not become a victim of the scam, unlike other Kansans
who have lost thousands of dollars,” the United States District Court said.

The United States District Court says earlier in 2023, a Derby resident received a call from a scammer that said she failed to appear in court and threatened her with jail time unless she purchased $1,500 in gift cards.

The scammer told her to mail the gift cards to an actual court employee. Before mailing the gift cards, the scammer asked for the numbers on the back of the cards. By the time the court employee received the cards, the United States District Court says the scammers had already spent the money.

Melgren says he wants citizens to be aware of such scams and to contact the federal
court immediately if a scam is suspected.

The federal court is experiencing an uptick of calls from Kansas citizens who have been contacted by scammers. We recently mailed over 60,000 postcards to potential jurors, and scammers are using this to their advantage. Most contact between federal court and a prospective juror will be through the U.S. mail or our online jury portal called “eJUROR.” Any phone contact by real court officials will not include requests for Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, or any other sensitive information. Furthermore, court staff would never request someone to purchase gift cards to pay off a fine.

Chief Judge Eric Melgren

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