Warrant for Arrest 

• Neither the United States Marshals Service nor the United States District Court will ever call to request payment of fines over the telephone.
• Valid arrest warrants are only served in-person by law enforcement personnel. They are never served by any electronic method, such as email or text.
• If you are contacted by someone who says there is a warrant for your arrest related to missed federal jury duty, subpoena or other offenses, do not make any payments to them.
• You may verify the authenticity of any court document or telephone call you have received requesting payment by contacting the District Court Clerk's Office at 206-370-8400 (Seattle) or 253-882-3800 (Tacoma).

Methods and Tactics of the Fraud

• The caller may use a variety of tactics to sound credible.  They may instruct you to mail the prepaid cards to a specific judge or to report to your local courthouse with the prepaid debit cards.  They may provide information like badge numbers, case numbers, names of actual law enforcement officials, public servants, and federal judges.  They may also spoof their phone numbers to appear on Caller ID as if they are calling from a courthouse or a government agency like the U.S. Marshals Service.
• The caller may identify themselves as an agent of Homeland Security or United States Customs & Immigration Services (USCIS) claiming that deportation or other consequences are imminent.
• The caller may identify themselves as an officer with local law enforcement, the U.S. Marshals Service or a federal judge, or federal court personnel. They may instruct you to make a payment at a Bitcoin ATM by depositing cash, using your debit or credit card, or scanning a QR code at the ATM. They may instruct you to wire money or purchase prepaid debit cards, such as a Green Dot card or gift cards, and ask you to read the card numbers over the phone to pay your fines in order to avoid arrest.

Reporting the calls  

• Please report the call to your local FBI office and file a consumer complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).  The FTC has the ability to detect larger patterns of fraud and share that data with law enforcement.
• If you have been targeted by a federal court scam, you may also report it to the U.S. Marshals Service via their dedicated tips link. 

Resources

• More information about this type of fraudulent activity can be found on the U.S. Courts national site and in the press releases from the the U.S. Marshals Service (12/9/2021 and 1/5/2026).
• See KOMO News, a local Seattle news outlet, coverage of this scam here.
• Please also see the Joint News Release put out by the FBI, U.S. Attorney's Office, U.S. District Court, U.S. Marshals Service, the IRS, and the Yakima Police Department.