The public is being warned today about a spam email that purports to be from Ireland's Court Service saying the recipient had not responded to a summons for jury duty and needed to pay a €500 fine.

According to The Irish Times, answering the email causes a second one to be sent requesting bank details for the payment of this fine. Gerry Curran, a Courts Service spokesman said that the organisation would never ask for bank details through email, and noted that juror summonses are sent out via traditional postal methods.

“Other official communications are sent via either registered post or summons or warrants for fines etc by the gardaí.”

The return address of the email is not one used by the organisation, and the phishing scam was reported to the Guards this Monday.