Monroe PD Warn Residents of IRS Scam

The Monroe Police Department warns residents that there are numerous telephone scams occurring in the region.

In these calls, scammers will call your home or cell phone stating they are with the IRS and/or local police department and say that you owe back taxes. Scammers will further say that you will be arrested if the taxes are not paid immediately.

They direct victims to obtain money orders for hundreds or thousands of dollars and provide an address for an overnight shipment. These locations are usually a receptacle in a private mail service store front and not monitored by a government agency.

These scammers are Caller ID “spoofing” telephone numbers from the IRS and local police departments.

In an incident reported to the Monroe Police Department on April 7, a male scammer who claimed to be “IRS Agent Jack Cooper” spoofed a potential victim so that the Caller ID displayed the Internal Revenue Service’s 1-800 telephone number. In a second call, he spoofed the telephone number for the Monroe Police Department’s Detective Bureau claimed to be “Detective Cooperman” and insisted the victim cooperate with the IRS investigation.

The potential victim was given options to directly transfer funds to a Wells Fargo Bank account or obtain a money order, leaving the payee section blank and emailing a color copy to a Gmail email account.

The potential victim in this incident called both telephone numbers displayed on her caller ID and received automated answering systems, giving the appearance the scammer was legitimate. After contacting the main police department telephone number, answered by a dispatcher, the victim learned she was involved with a scam.

Caller ID spoofing can be easily done with various computer and cellular telephone applications.

It is important to know that IRS does not call regarding their tax accounts before you received a letter from them, and even then a call is rare.

IRS will never direct you to transfer funds or utilize money orders or cards such as Green Dot.

Always verify that the person you are speaking with is a legitimate employee of the agency they claim to work for. The best way of doing this is by obtaining the listed telephone number from a telephone book and talking directly to an official of that agency.

Residents can call the Monroe Police Department Dispatch Center at 203-261-3622.

Helpful Links:

Five Easy Ways to Spot a Scam Phone Call

Tax Scams Consumer Alerts

Image via Shutterstock

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