West Virginia court issues alert on Bitcoin fraud using phony jury summons warrants

A district court in West Virginia has issued a warning to the public about cryptocurrency scammers who are using fraudulent arrest warrants to coerce payments for supposed missed jury duty.

The fraudulent actors were discovered to be masquerading as officials from the U.S. District Court, using "official looking" papers that falsely purport to be from the Eastern District of Virginia, according to a recent announcement from the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Virginia.

The forged arrest warrants allege that the victims failed to appear for jury duty and demand immediate payment.

The scam usually begins with a phone call in which the victim is pressured into paying the scammers using Bitcoin and other difficult-to-trace methods like gift cards. If the victims do not comply, they are threatened with arrest.

Court officials stated that U.S. district courts "do not issue arrest warrants" for failing to appear for jury duty unless the individual has been "summoned."

They advised anyone who receives such documents, especially those requiring Bitcoin payments over the phone, to contact the court directly to confirm their authenticity.

Such scams, in which bad actors impersonate government officials and other industry figures, have become widespread in the crypto sector, which lost over $3 billion to fraud and hacks in 2024 alone, according to a January report from PeckShield.

In late 2023, the FBI took action against one such scheme, which targeted residents of El Paso, Texas, with phishing email letters that appeared to have been sent by the agency. Around the same time, the bureau issued a warning about scammers on Telegram who were posing as venture capital investors and tricking crypto users into downloading malicious software.

More recently, law enforcement agencies across various jurisdictions have raised concerns about scammers pretending to be representatives of crypto exchange Binance in order to defraud users.