POLICE ISSUE IRS SCAM ALERT

From Maplewood Police today:

Advisory: IRS Scam Alert- Don't become a victim

Police detectives are noticing an increase in the amount of reports they are receiving about the once-popular IRS phone scam. While the tactic has been used in the past, scammers have now launched another wave of false-identity phone scams using new and sophisticated tactics.

The Treasury Inspector General has logged more than 90,000 complaints from the public who have been receiving phone calls from persons claiming to represent the Internal Revenue Service. The caller notifies the person on the other end of the line that they are late on a payment or that there was an error on a previous tax return filing and insists they are required to make a payment in the range of $800-$1200 by purchasing a Green Dot Money Pack or other similar card. These prepaid cards can be purchased and loaded with money at CVS or similar stores. The caller then makes sure that the money is transferred/redeemed while both parties remain on the phone. If questioned by the potential victim, the scam artist notifies them that if they fail to make a payment immediately, they will be arrested by the Sheriff’s Department. Since the money transfer is immediate and non-traceable, the victim is unable to recover the money once they realize they have just been the victim of a phone-scam.

The IRS is adamant that these types of calls are in no way affiliated with their agency. According to their website, the first point of contact from them will always be official correspondence via US mail, and they will never solicit money or fees over the phone. They are advising anyone who receives these types of calls to report the information to the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov.

The Police Department would like to advise the community to never give out any personal information, or agree to forfeit, donate or pay any amount of money to anyone who solicits you over the phone. As a general rule of thumb, unless YOU contact a business directly and can verify their identity, do not take the risk.

Visit www.MoneyPack.com for an approved list of businesses that the company deems safe to use money packs with.