Peabody Police Impersonator Demands IRS Payment: Scam Warning

PEABODY, MA — Peabody police on Tuesday warned of a resident being targeted for a scam in which a person used specific names of city police officers to make it appear as if the IRS was demanding payment.

Peabody police said that the resident was told that their Social Security would be shut off and requested payment via gift cards. To make the scam more believable, the person calling used the name of the Peabody police officers and fake badge numbers.

"At no time would any agency request money in this manner," police said. "Please keep all information private. If we are trying to contact you, we will either ask you to come to the station or we will come to you in a police cruiser."

Elderly residents are often targeted by these types of scams, with some phone scams configuring the phone calls to make it appear like they are coming from a North Shore police department phone number on caller ID.

Police asked that residents pass along this information to neighbors and family relatives.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)