Been served a notice to appear - what does this mean

[brickbats]

I've just received in my spam box a notice to appear at a court in Washington in January. I have no idea what this is about, being based in the UK and not involved in any legal cases. The email appears to be from a large firm of solicitors, but I am a loss and don't want to open the zip file since it's unknown to me. Equally, I want to know more about this, in case it's as serious as it sounds. Can anyone help? Thanks.

Ignore. Never open an attachment, especially a zip file, from anyone you don't know.

If they really do need you to appear at a court case (which is highly unlikely), then they will phone you or write a letter.

It's a blanket spam, assuming that people are in the US and will have reason to suspect it might be legit.

Your computer was quite right to class it as spam.

Google the solicitors and see if they're a real company.

Google the details and see if it comes up as a known scam.

Don't worry too much - I would of thought that legal summons still have to be presented either in person or at least on paper. Email seems a bit iffy, precisely because it can be spam. Hopefully a legal bod can confirm/deny.

Don't open the zip file!

Personally I'd just ignore it.

Definitely sounds like spam to me. Was the email addressed to you in person (I mean in the text of the email, did it say 'Dear MrsDmitri') or is it completely generic?

Thanks. This is all hugely reassuring, and reinforces what I thought. I have just checked, and it's not addressed to me personally, so I will just ignore it. Thanks again.

Delete it

A court summons cannot be served via email. It has to be served in writing via post or personal delivery by a police officer or court appointed person.

It's spam. Bin it

It is worse than spam. It is trying to get you to open the attachment which contains malware.