Fraud Alert: Effingham County citizen loses over $15k in jury duty scam

RINCON, Ga. (WTOC) - An Effingham County citizen was scammed out of over $15,000 this morning in a CashApp scam, according to the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office.

In a social media post earlier today, August 18, 2025, the ECSO says one of their detectives responded to a call from a home on Hope Lane in reference to being scammed out of money.

The complainant told the Sheriff’s Office they had received multiple calls from what appeared to be the main ECSO phone number.

When the scammers called back, the complainant answered and was told they had a “warrant” out on them for “failure to appear to jury duty.”

The Sheriff’s Office says “the scammers told the complainant they had to pay them, then come to the Sheriff’s Office to take care of the ‘warrant’ or go to jail.”

Jury duty scams are a common scam not just in our area, but nationally.

By demanding payment through CashApp, the scammers were able to extort $15,800 from the Effingham County citizen before they realized it was a scam.

The Effingham County Sheriff’s Office reminds citizens that “ECSO (or any other law enforcement agency) will NEVER call to solicit funds over the phone nor call to inform someone of any kind of warrant.”

“THIS IS A SCAM,” the Sheriff’s Office says. “PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION WITH LOVED ONES!!!”

Anyone who receives a similar jury duty scam phone call and is told to pay money to take care of a warrant, or for any other reason, is asked to hang up and immediately call the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office at 912-754-3449.