Berks County officials are renewing their warnings to beware of scams that seek to pressure victims into paying for bogus court violations.

The scammers are impersonating law enforcement officials — in some case using the names of actual officers — who tell victims that they missed jury duty or did not appear for a court proceeding, District Attorney John T. Adams said.

The victims are pressured into sending a payment via cryptocurrency or bitcoin, gift cards or other forms of electronic payment.

“Whenever the person to whom you are speaking with requests money and requests that you deposit money into an ATM, specifically a bitcoin ATM machine, you are most certainly the victim of a scam,” Adams said Monday. “Do not deposit money into a bitcoin ATM. Once the money is deposited it is generally untraceable and disappears into bitcoin wallets.”

Adams said the sheriff’s office does not contact jurors who failed to appear for jury duty nor does it solicit money for failing to appear for jury duty.

Fines and other official papers usually are sent by certified mail, he said.

Adams and other county officials periodically have issued similar warnings, most recently in April when scammers were creating fake arrest warrants and documentation to entice payment to resolve the warrants.

If you receive a suspicious call, Adams and county detectives advise hanging up immediately and never giving out any personal or financial information.

Scam tactics are continually changing, officials said, but they often share many of the following characteristics:

• Callers may use the names of known law enforcement officials.

• The tone of calls is urgent and aggressive; callers refuse to speak or leave a message with anyone other than the person for whom they are calling.

• Callers threaten arrest, prosecution and imprisonment.

• Callers will attempt and/or demand money to resolve the issue via cryptocurrency or gift cards taken over the phone.

• Callers falsify the number on caller ID to appear as a legitimate law enforcement number.

• Callers will often ask for personal information, such as Social Security number or date of birth.

Adams previously urged residents to share information about the scams with relatives who may be vulnerable to these schemes

More information is available at reportfraud.ftc.gov/.