South Windsor Police Warn Residents of 'IRS Scam'

South Windsor Police are warning residents that the “IRS Scam” is still around.

Police say they received two calls on Thursday about the scam, in which a caller poses as an IRS employee and says if they don’t get money via Western Union or via “Green-Dot” cards they will send the police to arrest you.

“Except, we don’t enforce federal laws and the IRS doesn’t work over the phone, nor do they use money orders,” Lt. Scott Custer said.

Read more from Lt. Custer below:

One clue to this scam used to be the suspects were calling from overseas and had accents. A resident emailed me an audio file where the message left on their phone used a text-to-voice program so there is no audible accent. The text of the call is below.

Don’t fall for it, don’t give out any information and always independently verify who is calling you. There are apps out there to spoof caller ID and make it appear the call is originating from a legitimate phone number. You should research the phone number yourself and call back if you feel something isn’t right.

Here’s the latest scam message text, note the poor grammar, it’s a giveaway too:

“Treasury department. My dash number is 4165. The nature and the purpose of this call is regarding an enforcement actions which has been executed by the US treasury department regarding a tax fraud against your name. Ignoring this will be an intentional attempt to avoid an initial appearance before magistrate judge or a grand jury for a federal criminal offense. So before this matter goes to federal claims court house before you get arrested. Kindly call us back on our number is soonest possible. The number to reach us is 202-621-0382. Let me repeat the number is 202-621-0382. Hope to hear from you soon before the charges pressed against you. Thanks.”

The Police Department advice: JUST HANG UP.