Greg's Corner

Doctors taken for $300K in scam

By Greg Collier

Many of us consider doctors to be some of the best and brightest among us. They never stop learning, as their profession requires them to be on the cutting edge of medical science. But for all their medical knowledge, even doctors are susceptible to scams. We’re not talking about a medically specific scams, either. We’re talking about one of the most common scams there is.

Recently, In Houston, Texas, 60 people were targeted in the jury duty scam. Many of the victims were doctors, and each victim lost $5000 each for a combined loss of $300,000.

For new readers, the jury duty scam works like this. The scammer will call the victim, posing as a representative of the local court system, and claim that the victim has failed to appear for jury duty. They will then tell the victim that there is a warrant out for their arrest and that they must pay a fine to avoid being arrested. Typically, scammers will ask for payment in something largely untraceable like a prepaid debit card, git cards, or cryptocurrency.

If you think about it critically, this is a pretty ingenious twist on the jury duty scam. Doctors tend to make more money than the average consumer. It only takes a handful of doctors to fall for the scam in order for the scammer to make a substantial profit.

The reason we bring up the fact that doctors are falling victim to one of the most common scams is because it shows that no matter how intelligent a person might be, there’s a scam out there that they could fall for. It may not be the jury duty scam, but there is a scam out there that could be the one that finally fools you. We’ve seen everyone from teachers to CEOs who have lost vast amounts of money to various scams.

As far as the jury duty scam is concerned, please keep in mind that no law enforcement agency will ever threaten someone with arrest over the phone. In most cases, the court will send a summons via mail, and any communication related to jury duty will be conducted in person or via official court correspondence. If you receive a call or email claiming to be related to jury duty, it’s important to verify the authenticity of the communication before providing any personal or financial information.