US Federal Court: This Year's Scams More Aggressive and Sophisticated Than Years Past (networkworld.com)

coondoggie quotes a report from Network World: The fraud and scam war rages. This week the Federal Courts warned of swindles involving people posing as federal court officials and U.S. Marshals targeting citizens, threatening them with arrest unless they pay some fake fine for failing to show up for jury duty. "This year's scams are more aggressive and sophisticated than we've seen in years past," says Melissa Muir, Director of Administrative Services for the U.S. District Court of Western Washington in a statement. "Scammers are setting up call centers, establishing call-back protocols and using specific names and designated court hearing times." The bottom line: A federal court will never threaten an individual or demand the immediate payment -- either over the telephone or money wire service -- for fines or for not responding to a jury summons, the court stated.

Comments

Re:Got one from the IRS, a recording

[Archangel Michael]

The reason these scams work is simple

1) They sound plausible.
2) They play upon our fears

It SOUNDS plausible that you could be fined or whatever for missing a court date. And we are trained to avoid unpleasant outcomes, so they play upon our worst fears. If either of these things were not easy then the scams would fail repeatedly and be useless.

For both of these things to be potentially true, says a great deal about our government systems. We believe Government cannot get enough money, and thus have fines and penalties for non-compliance to mundane things. And worst, we are fearful of the full power of government coming against us for non-compliance.

Let that soak in a bit, and think about it. What part of our system, is it okay to have government so entrenched into every aspect of our lives that this is possible. It says a lot.