11/14/2025
🚨 SCAM ALERT 🚨
A Polk County resident was targeted today by someone claiming to be “Sgt. Glover” from the Sheriff’s Office about missing jury duty. This person is NOT with PCSO.
The scammer even gave the real address of our operations center and sent a fake “warrant” to make it look legit. He also told the resident she was under a “gag order” so she wouldn’t tell anyone.
This is a jury duty scam. They try to meet you in person or redirect you, then demand electronic payments to “clear it up.”
Remember:
✔️Our office handles jury duty—we will never call with threats or demand payment.
✔️ You will never get a warrant for missing jury duty.
✔️ If you get a call like this, hang up and contact us or local law enforcement.
🚨🚨🚨 SCAM ALERT 🚨🚨🚨
This happened today in our county - a resident was contacted by a scammer who told her his name was "Sgt. Glover, badge number 0738" and that he was calling from the Polk County Sheriff's Office regarding her not showing up for jury duty.
(We don't have anyone here by that name, by the way)
He instructed her to meet him at our main operations center in Winter Haven - he even gave her the actual address. Fortunately she didn't fall for it, she called us instead.
The scammer sent her a photo of her "warrant" - we removed her name but do you see how elaborate of a ruse this is? It looks pretty legit if you aren't used to seeing a real warrant. Here's one clue: Winter haven spelled with a lowercase h. Also, he claimed to work here but this is supposedly a "federal" warrant. No.
Oh he also told her that she was under a "gag order" and not to tell anyone about this. Well of course he didn't want her to tell anyone - how else could he pull this off?
HERE'S WHAT WE KNOW:
He would have met her in our parking lot, or called her when she was en-route and re-directed her to another location.
He then would have told her to pay him electronically to "clear this matter up" and that she was free to go after that.
This is a common jury duty scam, with a new twist - a fake warrant.
Do a quick Google search and you'll see lots of other fake warrants that look just like this.
Stacy M. Butterfield, CPA, Polk County Clerk of Courts warns about jury duty scams all the time - they are the entity (not the Sheriff's Office) to contact regarding jury duty and they will never, ever call you with threats, and you will never, ever have a warrant issued if you don't show up for jury duty.
If you receive a call like this, hang up and contact the Clerk of Courts Office or your local law enforcement agency. Do not call the number back. Block the number that called you.
Be vigilant! Don't let the scammers get your hard-earned money.
