Courts almost never send unsolicited emails about jury duty. If a message in your inbox claims you missed your date and owe a fine, it is a scam. Here is how to verify, and how to get a real reminder for the date on your paper summons.
Real jury summonses come by US Mail, printed on court letterhead, with a specific court name, your juror number, a report date and time, and instructions for responding. Courts do not send the initial summons by email. They do not call asking for payment. They do not threaten arrest over a phone call.
The FBI and federal courts have warned repeatedly about jury duty scam emails and phone calls. The pattern is always the same: a fake "failure-to-appear" message, urgent threats of arrest, and a demand for payment by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency. It is always fake.
If you want a legitimate email reminder for your real court date, set one yourself. You take the date from the paper summons, you create the reminder, you control the timing. That is the safe way to use email for jury duty.
Any one of these is enough to walk away. Most scams hit several at once.
Real courts never collect fines by phone or email, and they never threaten immediate arrest. Any "pay now or be arrested" message is a scam.
Government agencies do not accept gift cards. The moment a caller mentions Apple cards, MoneyGram, or Bitcoin, hang up. There is no legitimate version of this request.
Every state and federal court sends the initial summons by mail. Optional reminder emails only happen after you opt in. An out-of-the-blue email summons is not real.
"Pay within 24 hours or a warrant will be issued." Real failure-to-appear notices give you weeks to respond and a hearing date. Pressure is the scammer's tool.
Hover over the link. Real court emails come from a .gov domain. Fake ones come from public mail services or lookalike domains. When in doubt, type the court's web address yourself.
If the person on the phone will not let you hang up and call the court back at a number you look up yourself, it is a scam. Every real court employee will accept that.
If you are not sure what you received, compare it against this. A real summons looks like an official court document. A scam looks like spam.
Scam jury duty emails work because people are nervous about jury duty. The court date is unfamiliar, the paper summons is easy to lose, and skipping has real consequences. That anxiety is what scammers exploit.
The way to neutralize that anxiety is not to wait for an email from the court. It is to take the date on your paper summons and create your own reminder for it. Then you know exactly when the email will arrive, who it is from, and what it will say — because you set it.
See the full guide on jury duty reminders or set one now.
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Not as an initial summons. Real jury summonses are mailed on official court letterhead. A few courts (Alaska, parts of California, some federal districts) send optional email or text reminders after you respond to the mailed summons and opt in. But you should never receive an unsolicited email claiming you owe a fine or have been summoned for jury duty.
It is almost certainly a scam. Real courts never demand payment over email or by phone for missed jury duty. They mail a written failure-to-appear notice with your case number, the court name, and a way to verify by calling the court directly. Do not click links or send money. The FBI has issued multiple warnings about this exact scam.
Hang up. The federal court does not call to collect fines, threaten arrest, or demand gift cards. Do not give them any personal information. If you are worried, look up the federal district court for your area online (uscourts.gov) and call them directly to confirm.
A real summons is a printed document mailed to your home. It includes the court name and address, your full legal name, a juror or badge number, a specific report date and time, and instructions for responding (online portal, phone, or mail). It does not threaten arrest or demand payment up front.
Yes — you set it up yourself. Take the date from your mailed paper summons and create a reminder for that date in a service like BoldRemind. It is not a "court summons by email." It is a personal calendar reminder that emails you. That is legitimate because you initiated it.
Call the court named on the summons using a phone number you look up independently (do not use the number printed on a suspicious notice). The jury services office can confirm whether you are on the panel for that date by looking up your name. A real summons survives a five-minute verification call. A scam does not.
Federal courts use the eJuror portal for online responses to summonses. If you set up an account through it, some districts will send confirmation emails or reminders. The eJuror system itself is legitimate — but scammers use the name to lend credibility to phishing emails. Verify any "eJuror" email by going directly to your district court website, not by clicking links.
Set it yourself, from the date on your paper summons. Free, no account, no surprises in your inbox.
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