Editor’s note: Transcript provided by CoverGov.
At the Sept. 30 Denton County Commissioners Court, Precinct 1 commissioner Ryan Williams spoke about a recent call he got from a jury duty phone scammer impersonating a police lieutenant.
“You’ll get these calls of somebody acting like they’re from the Denton County Police Department,” Williams said during the community updates portion of the meeting. “This was a Denton County lieutenant that was calling because I missed going to jury duty.”
Williams knew he had not received a jury duty notice.
“And nevertheless, I played along for a few seconds just because I wanted to p— him off more. And then when I told him that it was a fake call and this is not legitimate, that upset him pretty bad.”
Denton County in 2023 posted a warning on its website about jury duty phone scammers who seek payments for missed jury duty fines.
“Please make sure everybody’s aware of those kinds of phone calls.” Williams concluded. “The law enforcement will never call you and say you owe them money like that. It doesn’t work that way. And they’re not going to come arrest you for jury duty at your house either.”
To learn more about how the transcript that informed this report was created, visit covergov.com.
Eric Zarate is a freelance journalist.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at news@fortworthreport.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
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Scott Nishimura is a longtime Fort Worth journalist, serving in roles as a reporter and editor for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Business Press, and Fort Worth, Fort Worth Inc. and 360West magazines….
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