Forsyth County warns of fake jury-duty Bitcoin phone scam
Scammers spoofing the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office number are calling residents about fake jury-duty fines and demanding Bitcoin.
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office warned Tuesday that scammers were spoofing the agency’s phone number and telling residents they had missed jury duty and needed to pay immediately with Bitcoin.
Caller ID can be manipulated, so a number that looks like the sheriff’s office may not be real at all. Spoofing is the deliberate falsification of caller-ID information, and scammers often borrow the numbers of local agencies people already trust. The Federal Trade Commission warned June 11 that jury-duty scams can also continue by text or email, sometimes with fake documents claiming there is a warrant for arrest.
Fraudsters use the same pattern across Georgia and beyond. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr warned in 2023 that law-enforcement imposter scams can use threats of arrest, real officer names, actual agency websites and spoofed phone numbers to sound convincing. The Federal Trade Commission warned June 11 that courts never demand payment over the phone, and scammers may push cryptocurrency, payment apps, gift cards or wire-transfer services instead. In Forsyth County, the county’s official eJuror portal is for people who truly were summoned, and jurors can also use the Clerk of Court’s juror information line at 770-781-2135 for instructions about assigned service.
The sheriff’s office will never call a resident to demand payment for missed jury duty. If a call comes in claiming a warrant, a fine or an urgent payment deadline, hang up right away, do not give out personal information and do not send Bitcoin or any other payment. Any claim about jury service should be checked through official Forsyth County channels, not through the caller.
A 2025 Forsyth County clerk alert described callers posing as deputy sheriffs or deputy clerks and demanding card payments for an alleged missed-jury-duty warrant. Forsyth County’s Alert Forsyth system, which sends real emergency alerts by text, voice and email through the EMA, 911 Center, Fire Department and Sheriff’s Office, is the county’s official notification channel.
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