Police Warn of Ongoing IRS Scam

The Swampscott Police Department is reminding residents that the Internal Revenue Service does not make threatening phone calls demanding money as residents in town continue to report scam phone calls.

“The recent version of this scam has the caller demand you go to the bank or a local store and purchase a Visa gift card for $500.00 as a show of good faith or you will be arrested. The party calls you on your cell phone and then demands that you stay on the phone with him while you go to the store to purchase this card. Presumably so that you don’t call someone else who may be aware this is a scam,” a press release from the police department reads.

On the IRS Website, Commissioner John Koskinen reassures taxpayers that the IRS does not conduct the kinds of threatening phone calls that have been reported.

“We have formal processes in place for people with tax issues,” Koskinen said on the webiste. “The IRS respects taxpayer rights, and these angry, shake-down calls are not how we do business.”