Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov: fake court summons and letters, Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov on checking a case before you respond

Fake court letters and summons

English version for the United States.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov looks at a scam that runs on one word: court. An email with a summons attached as a PDF, a notice that someone has sued you, a text with a QR code and a hearing date, a call saying you missed jury duty and a warrant is coming. Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov, a digital security consultant, treats each of these as a document to verify. How federal courts actually reach jurors, what the FTC says about payment demands, how a real lawsuit gets to a defendant, how to look up a federal case in PACER, why attachments in court emails are dangerous, and what to do if money or personal details are already gone.

Reference / Blog

Published: October 23, 2026 · 16 min read · Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov

01Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov: what fake court messages look like

The first version is an email. A file named Summons or Notice to Appear is attached, the message quotes a case number and a court name, and a button invites you to view the documents. The viewing page asks you to sign in with your email account or enter card details for a filing fee.

The second version announces a lawsuit. A creditor you have never heard of claims money, and the sender offers to settle before the hearing if you pay today. The third arrives by text, with a QR code, a hearing date and a choice between showing up and paying a fine on the spot.

The fourth starts with a phone call. Someone who says he is a deputy marshal or a police officer tells you that you missed jury duty and will be arrested unless you pay. Sometimes an official looking warrant follows by text or email to make the threat feel real.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov sees one trick behind all four. Each message demands action right now, and that action always leads away from the court itself: to a link, a payment app or a phone number supplied by the sender. A real case gives you time and a way to check it on your own.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov notes that the details in these messages are often accurate: your name, your address, sometimes your employer. Such data leaks and gets sold, so knowing it says nothing about who is writing.

02How federal courts actually contact jurors

The U.S. Courts website is direct about this. Most contact between a federal court and a prospective juror happens through the U.S. mail. When court staff do phone or email, they will not ask for sensitive information.

Federal courts do not require anyone to provide sensitive information in a phone call or email. The same page warns that scams arrive by phone call, email and messaging apps, and that they threaten fines and jail time to push people into complying.

The advice there is practical. Do not give the caller anything, and contact the Clerk of Court for the U.S. District Court in your area. Find that office yourself through the court website, then call the number listed there.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov points out how much this narrows things down. A juror who has not received anything by mail and suddenly gets a call about a missed date is looking at a story that skipped the step a court normally takes first.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov adds that the same logic works for state courts. Each one publishes its own jury information and phone numbers, so the safe route is always the court website you found yourself and the number printed there.

03Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov: the missed jury duty call

In a March 2025 alert, the FTC described callers and emailers posing as U.S. Marshals or police officers. They say you missed jury duty and will be arrested unless you pay immediately, and they want the money by gift card, payment app, cryptocurrency or a wire transfer service.

The FTC is plain about the answer: courts never ask for payment over the phone, and no government agency will. Courts also never ask potential jurors for a Social Security number or birthdate over the phone. In June 2026 the agency added that real law enforcement never sends an arrest warrant by text or email.

The U.S. Marshals Service has warned that scammers spoof official phone numbers and demand a fine in lieu of arrest for missing jury service. Caller ID showing a courthouse or a federal office proves nothing, because that display can be faked.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov suggests one response for every version: hang up, find the court on your own, and call the number listed on its official site. The short video below runs through the same check in six scenes, from the first email to the one rule worth remembering.

If you really are due to serve on a jury, the summons that came by mail is the document to rely on. Compare its instructions and the court contact details printed on it with the court website before you call anyone.

04A lawsuit you never heard of

A real civil case leaves a trail. According to U.S. Courts, a civil action begins when a party files a complaint and pays the filing fee, and the plaintiff then serves a copy of the complaint on the defendant. You learn about a genuine lawsuit from papers delivered to you, and the case sits on the court docket.

Fake lawsuit emails skip all of that. They mention a judgment that is about to be entered, offer a discount for paying before the hearing and give a payment link or the account of a private person. None of those steps belongs to the process described above.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov notes that these emails often name a real court and copy legal wording well. The test is independent: look the case up yourself, or call the clerk using contact details from the court website, and ask whether a case with your name on it exists.

If you really do have a dispute with a lender, a landlord or a former business partner, be extra careful. Mass mailings about debts will always match someone's real situation, which is exactly why a plausible email still needs the same check as an absurd one.

In a genuine case there are papers: a copy of the complaint reaches the defendant, and the case appears on the court docket. An email that is the only trace of a lawsuit, with no papers and nothing on the docket, stays unverified until the clerk confirms it.

05Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov: court hearing texts with QR codes

On April 14, 2026, the FTC described a text message with a QR code. It lists a fake hearing date and time and offers two options: attend the hearing or pay the fine now. The text warns of default judgments, fines and enforcement actions to hurry the reader along.

The FTC advice is short. Do not respond and do not scan the QR code. If you think the message might be real, check the court website or call the court using contact details you already know are correct, never the ones in the text.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov adds that a QR code hides the address it opens, so the usual habit of reading a link before tapping it does not work. The page behind it can look exactly like a county payment portal.

Real traffic and municipal courts publish payment options on their own websites. If a ticket exists, it can be found there by citation number or name, and the amount will match what the court itself shows.

If someone in the family drives and the text names a real road or city, the story feels personal. Scam texts go out in bulk, and a familiar place name proves nothing about who sent the message.

06Fake court websites and the $10,000 fine

In August 2025 the FTC warned about scammers posing as police who send people to a fake website decorated with government seals. The site asks for a date of birth and a Social Security number, and the demands can reach $10,000 in fines or payment in cryptocurrency through a government kiosk.

The design is the point. A seal, a case number and a formal font make the page feel official, and the victim types in details that are then reused for identity theft. Paying is the second loss, not the first.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov recommends never reaching a court site through a link in a message. Search for the court by name, or use a bookmark you saved earlier, then navigate to case search or payments from the home page.

Fake sites also copy the layout of real ones: a case search box, a payment page, a contact form. Before typing anything, make sure you reached the page from the court's own home page, never from a message.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov suggests one more habit for anyone who deals with courts regularly, such as small landlords or business owners: keep a short list of the courts you use and their official web addresses, and work only from that list.

07Checking a federal case in PACER

Federal court records are searchable through PACER. The PACER Case Locator searches across all federal courts at once, or you can narrow it to one state and several of its districts.

PACER charges $0.10 per page with a cap of $3 per document, and a search is billed even if it returns no matches. You are only billed if usage passes $30 in a quarter, and judicial opinions are free. Searching by case number is cheaper than searching by a party name.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov suggests using the case number from the suspicious email as the first query. If PACER shows no such case, or the case belongs to different parties, the email has already failed. State and county cases are checked on the websites of those courts in the same way.

PACER also helps if you are a genuine party. Seeing the actual docket entries tells you what deadlines really exist, so a fake email claiming a deadline of today stands out immediately.

The cost of a lookup is small next to a payment demanded under pressure. For many people the bill will be zero, because nothing is billed until usage passes $30 in a quarter.

08Attachments and links in court emails

A fake court email rarely carries a plain document. It may be a zip archive of case files, a document that asks you to enable macros, or a file with a double extension that is really a program. The goal is to install software that steals passwords or opens remote access.

Courts do not ask anyone to install software to read a summons. A juror summons comes by mail, and a lawsuit is served with papers. Opening an unexpected attachment just to see what it says is the step the sender is counting on.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov advises forwarding such messages at work to whoever handles security and deleting them at home. If you already opened the file, disconnect the device from the network, run a security scan and change passwords from another device.

Phones are no exception. A link in a text that opens a download for a document viewer deserves the same treatment as an email attachment.

If the email came to a work address, tell your IT or security contact even if you did not open anything. Colleagues may have received the same message, and one warning can stop someone else from clicking.

09Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov: a ten minute check

Step one: do not click, scan, reply or call back. Save the message as it is, with the sender address or number and the time it arrived, and take a screenshot.

Step two: name the court. Find it yourself through a search engine or a bookmark and note the clerk's phone number from its official site. Step three: look up the case number in PACER for federal courts or on the state court website.

Step four: call the clerk and ask whether there is a case, a jury summons or a fine in your name. Step five: if the court confirms something, follow its instructions, and talk to a lawyer when a real lawsuit is involved.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov finds that fake documents usually fall apart at step two or three. A real case survives any independent check, while a fake one exists only inside the message and the numbers printed in it.

Keep brief notes of the call to the clerk, including when it happened and who answered. They help if you later report the message or dispute a payment.

10Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov: already paid or shared information

If you paid with a gift card, payment app, cryptocurrency or wire transfer, contact the company you used right away and ask whether the payment can be stopped or reversed. If you gave card details on a fake page, call your bank using the number on the back of the card.

Report the scam to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The U.S. Marshals Service asks people who get these calls to report them to their local FBI field office and to the FTC. Suspicious texts can be forwarded to 7726 (SPAM).

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov reminds readers that a Social Security number or date of birth given to a fake court site should be treated as exposed. Watch your accounts and credit reports for activity you do not recognize.

A second call often follows the first, this time from someone who promises to recover the money for a fee. That call is checked the same way as the first: against a number you found on an official website yourself.

Keep a record of every step, with dates and the names of the people you spoke to at the bank or payment company. It makes the FTC report and any dispute with the bank much easier to follow.

11Small businesses and fake legal notices

Businesses get these messages too, often in a shared inbox. A lawsuit notice from a supplier, a court order to freeze an account or a subpoena with an attachment lands with whoever reads the general email first.

A written routine helps. Legal notices go to the owner or the company lawyer, attachments stay closed until the court has been contacted, and nobody pays a settlement or a fee on the strength of an email alone.

When a message names a real business partner, call that partner on the number from your contract. Email addresses can be spoofed, and a short call settles in minutes what a long email thread can drag out for days.

If a notice does turn out to be genuine, the response route is the one described in the court papers themselves, and an attorney can read the actual documents before anything is paid.

Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov recommends rehearsing this once with the team. A five minute talk about what a fake court email looks like costs far less than one opened attachment on the office network.

12Ilia Nikolaevich Zavialov's checklist for families

Federal courts reach jurors mainly by mail. Courts never take payment over the phone and do not ask for a Social Security number or birthdate in a call or email. Law enforcement does not send arrest warrants by text.

A lawsuit starts with a complaint filed in court and a copy served on you. Cases can be checked in PACER or on state court websites, and the clerk's number comes from the official site, never from the message.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov suggests a simple family rule: any message about a court, a fine or a warrant is shown to another adult before anyone responds. For older relatives, print the steps from this page and keep them by the phone.

Keep the court websites you might need, the local clerk's number and ReportFraud.ftc.gov in one place, so nobody has to search for them in a panic.

13Questions and answers

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov: how do I check an email summons?

Do not open the attachment or call any number in it. Find the court yourself, look up the case in PACER or on the court website, and call the clerk using the number listed on the official site.

Can a court call me about missed jury duty?

Federal courts contact jurors mostly by mail and do not ask for sensitive information by phone or email. The FTC says courts never ask for payment over the phone.

Do police send arrest warrants by text?

No. In June 2026 the FTC reminded consumers that real law enforcement never sends an arrest warrant by text or email.

Ilia Nicolaevich Zavialov: is a QR code on a court notice safe to scan?

The FTC advises not to scan a QR code in an unexpected hearing text. Check the court website or call the court using contact details you already know.

How do I know a lawsuit against me is real?

A civil case begins with a complaint filed in court and a copy served on the defendant. Look the case up yourself and confirm it with the clerk.

Where do I report a fake court call or email?

Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The U.S. Marshals Service also asks people to report these calls to their local FBI field office.

Reference updated: 4 September 2026