Courts Service warns about bogus jury duty email
The email purports to be from ‘the Office of the Jury Commissioner’ and begins: “Our records indicate that on the 20/05/2016 at the COURTHOUSE, Ground Floor Jury Office, Dublin Criminal Courts Office, Parkgate Street, Dublin 8 you failed to appear as scheduled for juror service. This is a violation of the law.”
It then calls on the recipient to contact the office immediately “to explain your absence and to reschedule yourself for another juror appearance date”.
It also lists what it claims are a number of offences under the Juries Act for a failure to respond to a jury summons, which “could result in a criminal warrant being issued for your arrest by the court”.
It then refers to a €500 fine for failing to comply with a jury summons and adds that in the event of disputing the charge the recipient has to contact the office manager at email address dublinjurycourt@dublin.com.
While that unlikely email address would raise suspicions for many, the Courts Service stressed that the email should be ignored and that engaging with it could lead to fraud.
“It was not sent from us, by us, or from our IT system,” said a courts spokesman.
“It is a false instrument, designed to gather details about the recipient. The mail alleges the recipient has not answered a jury summon. It offers a means of answering this allegation.
“But answering this mail causes a second one to be forwarded seeking banking details for payment of a fine. Providing such information is a recipe for fraud, and has been reported to An Garda Síochana.
“We would never communicate in this manner — nor seek banking details via an email,” he said.
