Officials warn of scam involving phony court documents

By Brian Nordli (contact)

Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012 | 2:55 p.m.

Somebody has been sending fraudulent court default judgment documents to people in an attempt to scam them into paying “court fees,” officials warn.

Eighth Judicial District Court spokeswoman Mary Ann Price said the court became aware of the issue on Friday, after a victim called the clerk’s office to verify a default judgment document.

Price said the fraudulent document demanded court fees to be paid to a third party rather than an attorney. It also misspelled the name of Judge Jennifer Togliatti and was labeled as from the “District Court of Clark County,” when it should be the District Court of Nevada.

Price said three people have reported receiving phony court documents via email, all demanding money to be paid to a third party.

Proper default judgment documents are only sent by an attorney and never demand money to be paid to a third party.

Police were not investigating the incident as of Tuesday, Price said.

However, she urged anyone who believes they received a fraudulent Eighth Judicial District Court document to verify it through the clerk’s office at (702) 671-0530 and report it to police.