A district court in West Virginia has issued a warning to the public about cryptocurrency fraudsters using fake arrest warrants to extort payments for supposed jury duty absences.
These scammers have been impersonating officials from the U.S. District Court, producing “official-looking” documents that falsely suggest they originate from the Eastern District of Virginia, as highlighted in a recent announcement from the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Virginia.
The counterfeit arrest warrants accuse targets of failing to appear for jury duty and demand immediate payment.
This fraud typically takes place over a phone call in which the victim is pressured to pay the scammers with Bitcoin or other hard-to-trace methods, such as gift cards. Failure to comply often results in threats of arrest.
Court officials emphasized that U.S. district courts “do not issue arrest warrants” for missing jury duty unless the individual has received a “summons.”
They encouraged anyone who receives such documents, particularly those that request Bitcoin payments via phone, to contact the court directly for validation.
These types of scams, where malicious actors impersonate government officials and other key figures, have proliferated within the crypto industry, which reportedly lost over $3 billion to fraud and hacks in 2024 alone, according to a January report from PeckShield.
In late 2023, the FBI targeted a similar scheme that aimed at residents of El Paso, Texas, with phishing emails claiming to be from the agency. Concurrently, the bureau issued a warning about scammers on Telegram pretending to be venture capital investors, deceiving crypto users into downloading harmful software.
More recently, law enforcement agencies across various jurisdictions have raised concerns about scammers posing as representatives of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance to defraud users.