Long Beach Police Warn Against IRS Phone Scam

Long Beach Police are warning residents about a wave of calls from people claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service.

Police said they have received “numerous reports” about a scam where

“The caller will claim that the victim owes money to the IRS, and threaten that they will be prosecuted unless they immediately pay the demanded amount,” officials said. “The caller will then instruct the victim to purchase money orders and/or Green Dot cards and have them forward the numbers for payment.”

The IRS will never call and ask for money, financial information, or card numbers and will never request money orders, passwords, or PIN numbers, said police.

Suspicious activity can be reported to Long Beach Police at their non-emergency hotline at (516)431-1800.

Nassau County Police released a warning this week with several reported variations in the scam:

• Scammers using fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
• Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security Number.
• Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling.
• Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.
• Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.
• After threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.