Louisville attorney thwarts scammer claiming he owed $6,000 for missing jury summons

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Threatened with an arrest warrant and a fine for missing a jury summons, a Louisville attorney was on his way to the courthouse to resolve the issue when he realized it was a scam.

"I was a little embarrassed about it, even to tell anybody," said Michael Pitt, a retired real estate attorney.

Criminal law isn't exactly Pitt's forte, so when he received the phone call, he was worried.

"The guy identified himself as a police sergeant and wanted to know why I had not appeared for jury summons," Pitt said.

Criminal law isn't exactly Michael Pitt's forte, so when he received the phone call, he was worried. Jan. 25, 2024 *(WDRB Photo)*

At the time, Pitt thought there was a mix-up because he had recently moved.

"There had been a delay in getting mail forwarded," he said. "And so it made sense that I could have gotten a jury signs and not known about it."

The caller even sent a phony arrest warrant to Pitt's phone and told him he needed to come to the courthouse.

"As I'm driving downtown, he calls me back and said I didn't need to come downtown," Pitt said. "He wanted me to go to the bank and withdraw almost $6,000 from an account or from an ATM."

The caller said the clerk's office had set up Coinstar kiosks throughout the county and had specific instructions for what to do next.

"And I could go to the kiosk, get a court date, feed the money in for the bail and I would receive the money back when I appeared in court," Pitt said, recalling his instructions from the fake police sergeant.

Instead, Pitt phoned a friend, who is also a judge.

"He checked and call me back in about 15 minutes and said it's a scam," Pitt said.

Whitney Adkins with the Better Business Bureau said any time there's a request for money, it's often scam.

"We've seen this particular scam a dozen different ways," she said Thursday. "I know they can sound legitimate, and it's scary, and you think 'I'm going to be in trouble.' But I promise you you can hang up, and don't give it a second thought."

If you get a call, text message or email and want to find out how you can check to see if it’s a scam, click here.

More Louisville Crime Stories: