BLOOMINGTON — The story never gets old this time of year: Some Grinch wants to steal your Christmas, and in some cases, your life.

As shoppers race to buy gifts before the holidays arrive, they often become more lax with personal information and credit card numbers, said Stan Ommen, president of State Farm Bank and chairman of the Identity Theft Assistance Center, a bloc of financial institutions.

Most of us take those summonses for jury duty seriously, but enough people skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of scam has surfaced. Fall for it and your identity could be stolen.

In this con, someone calls pretending to be a court official who threateningly says a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you didn’t show up for jury duty. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator.