Residents of the District of Arizona are receiving fraudulent phone calls claiming to be from the Bankruptcy Court. The scammer will demand a payment, which may include Zelle, Venmo, or purchasing a pre-paid card.
The scammer may sound convincing and use real information including their real address; real court addresses; real names of court officials, trustees, and federal judges to make the scam appear more credible. Scammers may even “spoof” the phone number on caller ID so that the call falsely appears to be from a court number or the number of another government agency.

These phone calls are not from the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Arizona.  You should not provide the caller with any personal information, credit card numbers, pre-paid card numbers, or money.  Here are the facts:

• The court will never demand payment over the phone.
• The court will never demand payment over the phone or a gift card number to satisfy an obligation.
• Any official correspondence will come by mail directly from the court. 
• A fine will never be imposed until after the individual has appeared in court and been given the opportunity to explain his or her circumstances. If a fine is imposed, it will be in open court and reduced to writing (and will not be payable by Zelle or gift card number).

Debtors should report contacts from any suspicious communications to the USTP’s bankruptcy fraud hotline or to their local U.S. Trustee office.