Scammers posing as Harris County deputies are calling about missed jury duty, and one lawyer stayed on the line 44 minutes before she caught on.
A Houston lawyer nearly paid $700 to a fake deputy who said she had skipped jury duty. Jaylin Jackson posted a TikTok about the call, and it passed 300,000 views. Some commenters said they got the same call. A few said they lost thousands of dollars.
Jackson had recently been in a car crash. When her phone showed "Harris County Sheriff's Office," she answered, expecting an update. The caller claimed she had missed a jury summons and owed two citations totaling $700.
He then walked her through payment, step by step. She stayed on the line for 44 minutes before she realized it was a scam. "He was preying on the fact that I don't want to be in trouble," she said.
Many people picture scam victims as older or less savvy. Jackson shows that is not the rule. Even with a legal background, she second-guessed herself because the number on her screen looked official.
That is the trick. Scammers use caller ID spoofing, which means software makes any name or number appear on your screen. The call feels trustworthy before you have time to check. Carolina Petriciolet of the Better Business Bureau said even the smartest consumers can get pulled in and confused.
The reported calls are in the Houston area, but the same script could reach anyone with a phone. Anyone who got a call like this and hung up without paying has lost nothing. The risk is for people who stay on the line and start following payment instructions.
The alert box above lists the steps. The key habit is simple: do not argue or negotiate with the caller. Petriciolet suggests asking where the person is calling from, getting the number, saying you will do your own research, and hanging up. Then look up the real court or sheriff's number yourself.
The reports do not say how many people have been targeted or how much money has been lost in total. The commenters' losses are their own accounts and have not been confirmed. The Harris County Sheriff's Office says real officers will never make certain demands, but the full list was not available in the material for this story.
If a caller demands money right away, hang up and call the court or sheriff yourself using a number you look up, not the one on your screen.
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