Fake court notice and jury duty scam emails: how to tell and what to do

A message that says you skipped jury duty, face a warrant, or must open an attached hearing notice is built to scare you into acting before you think. Courts do not work that way. This guide explains how the scam works, how real courts contact people, how businesses and law firms get hit by the same trick, and what to do if you already clicked or paid.

What do fake court and jury duty emails look like?

They come in a few recurring forms. All of them borrow the authority of a court to create panic.

The FTC's June 2026 alert describes the classic version: an "urgent" call from someone posing as a US Marshal or local police officer, who may already know your name and address, threatens arrest unless you pay a fine. Scammers may then follow up with a fake arrest warrant by text or email.

In June 2025 the US District Court for the District of Columbia published a sample fraudulent email. Its subject line read "URGENT: Jury Duty Summons – Immediate Response Required", and it gave the recipient 72 hours to respond. The court said such emails may threaten "legal action, fines, or arrest unless immediate payment is made, or personal information is provided." Some even told people to withdraw cash and take it to an unknown location. The matching texts asked people to click a link for a one-time passcode to "receive a payment for jury duty."

How do real courts contact you?

The federal judiciary's Juror Scams page is short and clear:

• "Most contact between a federal court and a prospective juror will be through the U.S. mail."
• "Federal courts do not require anyone to provide any sensitive information in a telephone call or email."
• If you get a suspicious request, don't provide the information, and "immediately notify the Clerk of Court's office" of the US District Court in your area.

The District of Columbia court is more specific about its own practice. It says it "will not send you a summons via text," that "all summonses are sent via postal mail," and that it "will never ask for payment, credit card information, or Social Security numbers via phone, email, or text."

The FTC adds three statements that apply to every court and police force:

1. "Real law enforcement will never text or email you an arrest warrant."
2. Real officers won't call to say they'll arrest you.
3. "Courts never demand payment over the phone."

State and local courts set their own procedures, and some do send reminders or run online juror portals. So an email alone doesn't prove fraud. What gives it away is the request: payment, sensitive personal data, a threat of arrest, or a link or attachment you weren't expecting.

What are the red flags of a fake court email?

Run through these before you act on anything that claims to come from a court:

1. A threat of arrest or a warrant. Warrants don't arrive by email or text.
2. A demand for payment. Especially by payment app, cryptocurrency, gift card or a wire service. The FTC says only scammers insist on those.
3. A deadline measured in hours. "Respond within 72 hours" is pressure, not procedure.
4. A request for your Social Security number, date of birth or card details. Federal courts don't collect sensitive information by phone or email.
5. An attachment or a link to "view your case". This is how the malware variant works.
6. A sender address that isn't a court domain. Federal court websites and e-filing systems are on uscourts.gov. A free webmail account, a misspelled domain or an unrelated company is a strong sign of fraud. Our guide to lookalike domain phishing shows the common tricks.
7. Secrecy or instructions to stay on the line. Real court staff don't stop you from calling the clerk.

A real court domain in the From line isn't proof on its own, because display names and From addresses can be forged. The Email Header Analyzer shows the server a message really came from and whether it passed SPF, DKIM and DMARC. For the general checks that apply to any suspicious message, see how to spot a phishing email.

Why do businesses and law firms get fake legal notices?

The jury duty scam targets individuals for quick payments. The business version targets people at work, and the goal is usually malware or a stolen password.

Fake hearing notices with malware

In January 2014 the federal judiciary warned that emails claiming to come from federal and state courts were infecting computers. The messages told recipients to report to a hearing at a set day and time and to review an attached document for case details. Opening the attachment or link launched a malicious program.

The judiciary's advice still holds. Unless you're actively involved in a federal case and have agreed to receive notices electronically, you generally won't be served court documents by email. If an email mentions a case you know nothing about, contact the court before opening any attachment or link.

The pattern fits business inboxes well. A "notice of lawsuit" or "subpoena" addressed to the company looks like something that must be opened today. The file is often a document, a PDF with a link inside, or an HTML attachment that opens a fake sign-in page. Our list of dangerous email attachment types covers the formats to block or hold.

Fake e-filing notices aimed at lawyers

Law firms see a more targeted version. In November 2024 federal courts warned that fake Notices of Electronic Filing were being sent to attorneys and law firms across the country. The Southern District of Indiana Bankruptcy Court described them as "phishing attempts to convince recipients to respond to the emails." A reply triggers a second email with a link to a malicious website.

The scam hasn't stopped. In December 2025 the Northern District of Indiana said the fake notices were still circulating and stated that "Federal courts will never use a phone call or email to request personal or financial information." The District of Oregon lists what a genuine notice from its CM/ECF system looks like: recipients are blind-copied, there are no attachments, no instructions for next steps, and links point to the court's own ecf.ord.uscourts.gov domain.

The courts' shared advice for firms:

• Validate every case and document through CM/ECF, not through the email.
• Don't reply to a notice that asks for a response. Filers aren't required to respond to a valid court-issued notice.
• Don't download attachments or click links from unofficial or questionable sources.

What should you do with a fake court or jury duty email?

1. Don't reply, click, call or pay. Don't use any phone number, link or QR code in the message.
2. Find the court yourself. Search for the court's official website (federal courts are on uscourts.gov) and call the clerk's office or jury office on the number listed there.
3. Ask the court directly. Clerks can confirm in a few minutes whether you were summoned or whether a case exists.
4. Report it. Report the scam to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and tell the clerk of court, as both the federal judiciary and the DC court ask. At work, use your mail client's report button so IT can find other copies. Our guide on how to report a phishing email covers each mail client.
5. Delete it once it's reported.

What if you already clicked, paid or shared details?

Act quickly. The right steps depend on what happened.

Then report what happened at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Keep the original email, texts, call times and payment records. They help your bank and investigators.

How can a business cut down on fake legal notices?

Fake court notices land in the same inbox as real legal correspondence, so filtering and habits both matter.

• Hold risky attachments. Quarantine macro-enabled documents, HTML files, password-protected archives and scripts from outside senders. Legal staff rarely need them by email.
• Tag external mail. A visible "External" label makes a "court" message from a free webmail account stand out.
• Check links at click time. A link can point somewhere new after the email is delivered, and the fake e-filing notices only send their malicious link after you reply. Our guide on how to check if a link is safe explains what to look for.
• Write a rule for legal mail. Anyone who receives a summons, subpoena or lawsuit notice by email forwards it to one named person, who verifies it with the court or counsel before anyone opens attachments.
• Train on the real examples. The DC court's sample email and the e-filing warnings make good training material. See our security awareness training guide for a simple program.

Next steps

1. Share the three FTC rules with staff and family: no warrants by email or text, no arrest threats by phone, no court payments by phone.
2. Bookmark your local court's official site and jury office number so you never need the number in a message.
3. If you're a law firm, remind everyone that CM/ECF is the only place to validate a filing.
4. Run a suspicious message through the Email Header Analyzer to see where it really came from.
5. Put filtering in front of your mailboxes that holds risky attachments and checks senders before mail reaches staff. iBlockSpam filters phishing, spoofing and malware at the MX for Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and cPanel; see how it works.

Browse our other phishing and threat guides.