If you’re someone who takes people at their word, you’re more susceptible to being scammed.

If you’re a senior, you’re more likely to be targeted.

If your only exposure to law enforcement has been through TV shows, you might have difficulty discerning a fake cop from a real one.

Such was the case for a Polk County resident who endured the “You didn’t report for jury duty” scam, which is making the rounds again. He lost $3,700.

“There were background noises that sounded like police station activity,” he told me this week. “I was put on hold when somebody interrupted the ‘officer’ I was talking to. They kept me on the phone while I was driving and I was told, several times, to state ‘for the record’ my name, the date and time, and my current location, because my phone call was being recorded.

“All of that made me think that I was really talking to the police.”

We’re publishing his story because he wants to warn others. Had he known about this imposter scam, he wouldn’t have fallen for it.

He’s now careful not to answer the phone unless he recognizes who’s calling. But to avoid making him a target, I’m not identifying him.

The first recorded case of fraud is from 300 B.C., but I suspect scams have been around since the dawn of time. There probably are petroglyphs of cavemen and cavewomen discovering they’ve been duped into revealing their account numbers and passwords for The Bank of Cave Dwellers.

Scammers are so prolific that no one should feel ashamed for being duped.

“If you have been a victim of a fraud or a scam, do not be embarrassed. Do not be ashamed, and let us know at the Department of Justice,” said Ellen Klem, director of consumer outreach and education at Oregon DOJ. “Many consumers either don’t know that they’ve fallen victim to a scam, or they’re too embarrassed to tell anyone, or they don’t know where to complain to. 

“We know that those reports we get are just a small sliver of what is actually happening out there.”

You report scams and fraud at www.oregonconsumer.gov or by calling the Attorney General’s Consumer Hotline at 1-877-877-9392. You also can join the Scam Alert Network. Imposter scams were the most frequent consumer complaint to the DOJ last year.

The con artists could be local or operating overseas. They are brilliantly deceptive, Klem said, using technology to find our names, how old we are, what kind of car we drive, where we live and other details.

“Scammers have learned over their years of research into what makes those scams successful is that there are certain generational traits that make people more willing to believe something,” she said. “Younger generations seem to be a little more skeptical. But older adults, if you call them on the phone and tell them something, it’s very hard for them to understand that somebody would try to pretend to be somebody else or try to scam them.

“It seems to me like a generation that grew up where a handshake meant something – ‘I give you my word I’m going to do this’ – and a generation where you answered every phone call and you were polite to the person on the other end.

“So, if somebody calls you at home and tells you that they’re calling from the court or the sheriff’s office or the police department and that you’ve missed jury duty, you’re likely to believe them – especially if you haven’t read any articles or know anybody who’s fallen victim to this particular scam.”

Among the signs of a scam, she said, the first is that you’re contacted out of the blue. The second is an implied emergency.

“You’ve missed that deadline with the court. That’s where judges are, that’s where police officers are, that’s where the jail is, and the caller or the text message or the email often goes into great detail about what’s going to happen if you don’t pay,” Klem said.  

“If you listen to any of these phone calls, they’re terrifying. The caller talks about how they’re going to send a sheriff or police officer to your house. He’s going to bang on your door, haul you out on the front porch, slap the handcuffs on you in front of all your friends and neighbors, throw you in the back of the squad car and drive away.

“But in order for that not to happen, all you have to do is send them the money.”

Scam warnings often get lost amid the day’s news. Oregon’s state court system had announced in May 2023 that the jury duty scam had resurfaced, with citizens being threatened with “fines, prosecution, or jail time for failing to comply with jury service.”

The FBI Portland Division last month warned of an increase in scammers misrepresenting themselves as federal agents or other government officials. Oregonians lost more than $1.7 million to scams in 2023.

“Scammers often spoof caller ID information, and these phone calls are fraudulent even if they appear to be coming from an agency’s legitimate phone number,” the FBI said.

“There are many versions of the government impersonation scam, and they all exploit intimidation tactics. Typically, scammers will use an urgent and aggressive tone, refusing to speak to or leave a message with anyone other than their targeted victim; and will urge victims not to tell anyone else, including family, friends, or financial institutions, about what is occurring.”

All that proved true in the story below. 

How I got scammed

This is the first-person account a Polk County resident who encountered the “jury duty” scam on May 8, 2024. He wrote it up that evening and emailed it to acquaintances, asking whether they thought he’d been scammed. This has been edited for length.

Wednesday, May 8: I was awakened from a nap at 3:17 p.m. by a phone call from an unknown number in Beaverton. The caller asked for me by name. I was told I had received a jury summons from Marion County and had failed to show up.

I informed him I had moved out of the county two years ago and now lived in Polk County. He said that my failure to show up for jury duty had resulted in a charge of contempt of court, that I’d been subpoenaed, and that I’d received a packet in the mail. I told him I had received neither a subpoena nor a packet. 

He transferred me to the sheriff’s office in Polk County. The deputy who answered said I needed to come to their office in Dallas today, where I would be assigned a civil action number and a court date. I agreed to do that.

I was given a case number: BBA-3261AB. On the way to Dallas, I was told I’d need to pay bail. There were two counts against me. The bail was $1,850 for each count, a total of $3,700. He told me to drive back to Salem and get cash, which I did. At my credit union, the teller didn’t ask why I was withdrawing my savings.

 I verified that the address in Dallas where I’d been directed was indeed a government office. Yes, it was the courthouse.

 When I got to Dallas, they gave me a different address. Now I was to go to the Safeway, where I was told to go to the CoinStar machine (a green kiosk by the door) and follow its instructions. 

 By this point I was pretty sure I was being scammed. I told the deputy sheriff – who had been on the phone with me all the way in the car – that I was not going to put money in a CoinStar machine. Those are Bitcoin deposit terminals. He said that if I didn’t do so, he would change my case from civil to criminal.

 Finally, I gave in, mentally kissed my money goodbye (it’s only money) and stuffed it in the machine. The deputy told me the machine would respond with my court date. It didn’t. It said I’d been charged a 4% transaction fee, which amounted to $148. The deputy was shocked and angry, saying he didn’t know about the fee.

But the machine was telling me I had to finish the transaction. There was no way to back out, so I got a receipt with all the details.

The deputy told me to wait in the car – that he had to talk to some folks. He switched me over to Superintendent Frank Turner, a financial adviser for Polk County. Mr. Turner informed me that I’d have to put the $3,700 plus the $148 into the machine at the same time for the system to work.

I told him I had no more money. They refused to let me pay in person or use a credit card. I said I could bring them $148 tomorrow, but I could not put in another $3,700. 

I continued talking to the financial adviser and the deputy at different times. The adviser asked the name of the deputy, which I did not know, and said he was going to file a grievance against the officer. When the deputy got back on the phone, he said his job was on the line because he hadn’t told me about the transaction fee. He said they were going to have a big meeting in the morning, and my case would be the main topic. I didn’t express sympathy.

I was told that I would be called in the morning, that I would be asked to come back to Dallas, and that they would refund my $3,700 so I could add $148 (which I’d need to get from the credit union) and put all of that back in the CoinStar machine.

They said this CoinStar method is used for all sorts of payments like traffic tickets, alimony, child support, etc. I have no experience with these things.

I was also told that I’m on temporary probation – that my phone would be monitored, that I was not to talk to anyone, and that I might see a patrol car. I told the deputy I had to go to PDX tonight to pick up my wife; he said it would not be a problem.

So, I wrote this account of what happened today, emailed it to friends, asked for their thoughts and said not to call or text me unless it was via WhatsApp. I still suspect a scam.

Epilogue – Thursday, May 9: During the night, I was thinking (instead of sleeping). I’d sent the above story to friends, who responded that this was a scam. I decided to confirm it by going to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Dallas today to ask whether they had a case against me.

My wife and I arrived right at 8 a.m. when the PCSO opened. The woman at the desk stopped my explanation immediately after hearing the words “jury duty.” This is a scam that has been popular lately. And they never take payments through a CoinStar machine.

 She took a copy of my story and confirmed that the case number and names I’d been given were false. She advised me to go to my bank and to the Salem Police Department.

We went to the credit union, who really couldn’t do anything. My account had not been compromised and I had not revealed its number.

The Salem PD confirmed this was a scam. They gave me a case number and kept my information on file. I was given the address of an FBI website where I could report the fraud. They told me to have no further dealings with the scammers – a decision I’d made already.

By this time of the morning, they’d called my cell phone several times. I did not answer.