THOMASVILLE — Grady County Sheriff Harry Young is warning citizens to beware of phone calls or e-mails from someone claiming to be a jury coordinator.

“It is a phone and e-mail scam,” he said Friday. “If you protest and say you’ve never received a summons for jury duty, they ask you for your social security number and date of birth so they can verify this and cancel the bench warrant. Once you give them your information, they can use your identity. Identity theft from this scam has already been reported in 11 states. I want to help prevent it from happening in Georgia and our area.”

Young said the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the federal court system has verified the scam and issued nation-wide alerts warning citizens of the fraud.

“These people are using intimidation over the phone to bully people into giving out their information,” he stressed. “We have not had a case reported yet, but I want to stop it before it gets here.”

Anyone who receives a phone call or e-mail message regarding jury summons should call the clerk of court, Young said, in order to verify if they do have a summons or not. He also said citizens contacted should call the Grady County Sheriff’s Office at 377-5200.

“Never give out your information over the phone,” he said. “Someone genuinely calling to check on your status about a jury summons would never ask for that information.”