How To Not Get Tricked By This Old Court Summons Email Scam In Idaho

There are constantly new scams rearing their life-ruining heads in emails, phone calls, and social sites. Some scams are easy to spot and others look real. There’s one that has been around for years that is making a comeback in the form of an email and a court summons.

Beware: This Old Court Summons Email Scam Is Back In Idaho

I’ve received this email twice in recent years. The second came today. The message has a scare-inducing subject line of ‘Notice To Appear In Court’ and claims to be from Vincent Gambino Baker, Attorney at Law. The attorney's name sounds like a character from a mafia movie, and actually kind of is since Vinny Gambini is the title character in the Joe Pesci movie ‘My Cousin Vinny’. But that’s not the only giveaway that this email is a scam.

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There are certain things you can, and should, always check when you get a questionable email. Here’s a screenshot of the email and then we’ll go through all the red flags.

One of the issues in the email is that it supposedly comes from a law firm and not a court. Red Flag. Another red flag is the vagueness of ‘at the county courthouse’ instead of stating which county and ‘relating to this case’ without any indication of what the case is. Also, this is why you should never click on any links or attachments in a sketchy email: when I hover over the link that says to click here for information: the URL has words like crypt, single sign-on, and password. I can tell that it isn’t taking me to a government website for court documents. Most likely that is a link that will steal my information. The dotted-line square around the email body is odd too along with the random capitalization of Court.

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The final nail in the coffin for this email scam was when I searched for Vincent Gambino Baker there are years of complaints and stories about this specific scam. Please, remember to use caution when reading and opening emails from unknown senders, especially Vincent G. Baker, Attorney at Law.