PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – The state Attorney General’s Office warns Florida residents that scammers are now calling people about missing their jury duty.

For not paying these scammers, they threaten people with the risk of jail time.

Bay County investigators are now discussing the best ways to point out these scams to their Bay County residents.

These investigators point out the unusual forms of payment these scammers typically ask for.

“Well primarily, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office is never gonna ask for any form of payment to get rid of a warrant. If you’ve got a warrant, it’s there until you’re arrested. Also, no legitimate government agency is gonna ask for strange payments such as that. In order to get rid of this warrant, you have to pay them in you know, some sort of strange payments such as gift cards, or online bank transfers, or something along those sorts” (Thomas McQueen- Investigator for the Bay County Sheriff’s Office).

Though most of these jury duty scammers are using technology as their main source of contact with Florida residents, McQueen suggests keeping an out for these scams in the mail as well, especially those appearing to come from places like the courthouse.

Another technique that these scammers often use, is to change their caller IDs to appear to be coming from law enforcement, or other state government officials.

If you believe someone is attempting to scam you, or if you have already been scammed, there are steps you can take to report these crimes.

“You can either call the courthouse or call the Bay County Sheriff’s Office to confirm that there is a warrant for your arrest. But if you believe you’ve been scammed after already sending money, you can report it online at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office website or call into the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and have a deputy respond to you or report it here at the office” (McQueen).