Date of Incident: 4 April 2018
Location: Wicomico County
Narrative: The Sheriff’s Office would like to make our residents aware of recent incidents where individuals have been scammed here in Wicomico County.
In one of these, a subject receives a telephone call from an individual who identifies themselves as a member of the Internal Revenue Service. This individual then goes on to inform the potential victim that they are not only behind on their taxes, but that a warrant has been issued for their arrest. The victim is then given an opportunity to rectify the situation by purchasing a gift card to satisfy the back tax and providing that information to this individual who is pretending to be from the IRS
The other scam involves a subject calling someone and pretending to be a relative, usually a grandchild, who is in trouble in another state and needs bail money. A second individual then gets on the phone and identifies themselves as either a law enforcement officer or a public defender and instructs the would be victim to purchase a gift card, usually for a substantial amount and then call back and provide the number for that gift card.
We would like to remind everyone to be alert for these types of scams. Please refrain from making any payments over the telephone to anyone who you are unfamiliar with.
Releasing Authority: Lt. Tim Robinson
9 comments:
Why do people not use some COMMON SENSE in today's world?? Just asking for them to purchase a GIFT CARD should throw up red flags all over the place. IRS does not call you to begin with. They use the good old Mail. Also you should know if you owe any tax. If you get a call from a law enforcement officer or public defender just tell them you will contact your local office of that division and straighten that out in person. Guarantee they will hang up on you.
You have to be some kind of special to fall for that scam.
if you're that dumb to buy this scam, you deserve to be scammed!
Lighten up on calling people names. Stop and think that a lot of the elderly don't even have a computer to see this message. They may not even see it in the paper. My mother was scammed over the phone because she had no reason to NOT believe the line of s#%t that was told to her. I was in the room once when they called (and they called a LOT) asking for her credit card number When she started to give it to them I took the call and they then hung up. I told her to never give her CC number out to anyone and her response was "I never do". She no longer has a phone in her name at the assisted living home so the problem is fixed.
So just lighten up. Not everyone is as smart as you, I guess.
I agree with 4:17. PT Barnum can be heard in the background.
And, when these people call you, just tell them to hold while you pretend to go find the person they called. Or play along with them then play dumb.
It's fun; try it.
Buying a gift card? Anyone who falls for this needs to give power of attorney to a trusted family member or lawyer.
Since you are all so smart, please remember that there are many older people that are nat as with it as they once were. They fall prey to these types of scams more so than younger people. It could be your parents or grandparents that get taken. Have some empathy.
How to stop this everytime i get a scam like this i send them a screenshot of where to contact which is police station and never called me back ever since
My dumb-ass older sister fell for the IRS phone scam. And she thinks she's smart. Really!
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