ALFRED — A woman appeared at York County Superior Court on Thursday morning, as instructed. She’d missed an appearance for jury duty, she told the clerk; had paid her fine as instructed, and was ready for her scheduled meeting with Chief Justice Humphrey.

Except, of course, she didn’t have a meeting with the chief justice of the Superior Court, Thomas E. Humphrey; she hadn’t missed an appearance for jury duty, and there was no fine.

Except she’d paid one, over the phone, as instructed, by giving her credit card information to the caller.

And she was out $1,000.

This isn’t just a story ”“ it really happened, and the Maine Judicial Branch is so concerned that Mainers are getting scammed that on Friday they issued a warning for residents to beware.

“The caller convinced her she had missed her jury duty,” said Mary Ann Lynch, spokeswoman for the judicial branch. “She was told if she didn’t pay the fine over the phone, she would be arrested right away.”

Lynch said the scammers are savvy, and have the ability to make it appear as if the call really is coming form a sheriff’s office or the court. In many cases, the number that shows up on the recipient’s caller ID may appear as a Maine courthouse or sheriff’s department telephone number. The ability to show a fraudulent caller ID telephone number is called “caller ID spoofing,” and is happening with increasing frequency, Lynch said.

Kennebunkport Deputy Police chief Kurt Moses said his department received reports from four residents who said they’d received calls from a man purporting to be from the “Judicial Securities and Warrant Branch” of the York County Sheriff’s Department. There is no such branch.

In the Kennebunkport cases, the calling party advised that the complainants had failed to report for jury duty and so had active warrants for contempt of court, but they could avoid arrest by making payments to him over the telephone.

Lynch said the courts don’t use telephone or email to collect money.

“The Maine Judicial Branch wants to remind Maine people that the courts’ collection practices do not include telephone or email contact, and that no one working for Maine courts or the sheriff’s department will request credit card, Social Security numbers, or other personal information either over the telephone or by email, nor will they appear at your home looking for money.

“If someone does owe a court or traffic violation fine, they may receive a U.S. Postal Service letter, an arrest warrant may be issued, or their tax refund will be reduced by the amount of the debt owed to the state. They will not, however, receive a phone call or an email, nor will they ever be asked for money at their home. People should not be giving personal information over the telephone or by email, and if they have a question about the authenticity of the request, they should call the local courthouse and speak to the court clerk and, of course, notify local law enforcement.”

Lynch said payments for traffic tickets can be made online through the state’s secure website at http://www.informe.org/cgi-bin/paytixx/paytixx.pl and payments for court fines can be made on line at: https://www.informe.org/cgi-bin/online/courts/fines/login. Payments can also be made at the courthouse where the fine was ordered.  

The federal courts report similar issues. Christa Berry, clerk of the of the U.S.. District Court in Portland, said citizens are being targeted by phone and by email that they may be prosecuted for failure to comply with federal jury service.

“Citizens are also being asked to provide confidential information, such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth, etc.,” said Berry in a prepared statement. “These false requests are used to coerce citizens into providing confidential data, which could lead to identity theft or fraud. These scams may use the actual names of judicial officers, courts and law enforcement personnel to lend authenticity to their illegal activity.”

Berry advised people to ignore the calls and refrain from providing information. She said anyone having questions about the authenticity of a request should contact the clerk’s office of the U.S. District Court at 1-800-578-5708 or visit the court’s website at: http://www.med.uscourts.gov/nodeblock/juror-information.

— Senior Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 (local call in Sanford) or 282-1535, ext. 327 or twells@journaltribune.com.