Q. We’ve seen a lot of news coverage lately about scams involving governmental entities including the Clerk of Courts. What’s going on?
A. There are at least two active scams in which the scammer claims to represent the St. Johns County Clerk of Courts office. The first is a jury duty scam, in which the swindler pretends to be law enforcement or a clerk and claims that you’ve missed jury duty and must make immediate payment to avoid penalties. In some cases, the scammer indicates a warrant has been issued for your arrest and requests personal information, such as Social Security number and date of birth, for verification. Some scammers seek payment for failure to appear for jury duty.
In another con, the scammer sends a text message suggesting that you failed to pay a fine or fee and your balance has gone to collections. The scammer wants you to click on a link to get your balance or to respond to the text.
Q. What do residents need to know to protect themselves?
A. First, the St. Johns County Clerk of Courts will never request personal information from you via email, telephone or text. We will not contact you by email, text or phone to elicit payment. Our clerks do not go door-to-door.
Regarding the jury duty scam, when residents don’t respond to a summons for jury duty, they are contacted through an official letter from the St. Johns County Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller sent through the U.S. Postal Service. Failure to appear for jury duty requires attendance in court prior to any penalties being imposed, which would be ordered by a judge. I recommend just hanging up.
Be careful to not fall for the “Can you hear me?” scam, where the scammer aims to get you to say “yes.” Once they have a recording of your voice saying “yes,” a scammer can use it to authorize charges on bills, credit cards and more.
In the debt collections scam, don’t click on the link or respond to the text. If you have an unpaid fine or fee that has been forwarded to a collection agency, call the Clerk’s Office at (904) 819-3600 to verify the agency that is handling your case. You may also visit our website at stjohnsclerk.com/courts/traffic-parking/collections/ for information and authentic telephone numbers for collection agencies with whom we do business.
You also can help others by reporting any incidents to the Florida Office of the Attorney General at 866-9NO-SCAM (866-966-7226) or file a complaint on their website.
Q. Is there anything we can do proactively to reduce our risks?
A. In addition to learning more tips to protect yourself against scams, you can protect your property from fraud with Recording Activity Notifications. According to the FBI, property and mortgage fraud is among the fastest growing white-collar crimes. Although the alert system does not prevent the actual fraudulent activity from occurring, it does provide an early warning system for subscribers to become aware of what may have otherwise gone undetected. Subscribers are able to take prompt, appropriate action if they determine the recording activity to be fraudulent. Visit https://apps.stjohnsclerk.com/Landmark/FraudAlert to sign up.
Q: What is the best way for our readers to contact you or your office?
A: A lot of questions can be answered by visiting our website, www.stjohnsclerk.com or you can call our main office at (904) 819-3600.
