Posted: Thursday, June 28, 2012

Minnesota residents are being targeted by text messages that may sound legitimate enough to scare them into paying money to quash warrants that do not exist. 

Since yesterday, Steele County District Court in Owatonna has fielded calls from more than 20 citizens who received phone text messages telling them that Steele County District Court had issued a warrant for their arrest for failure to appear.  The message went on to tell recipients that they needed to call a number not associated with the Court to address the warrant. After calling the number, recipients were told they could pay $500 to quash the warrant. Some were told the warrant was issued for failure to appear for jury duty, while others were simply told it was a warrant.

PLEASE BE AWARE: These text messages are not coming from the Court. The best way to handle such texts is not to reply or respond, but to contact the Steele County Sheriff’s Office at (507) 444-3800 to report them.