Residents Urged Not To Fall Prey To Scam Calls
Sullivan Police and many local law enforcement agencies are reporting an uptick in the number of scam calls soliciting money and gift cards from unsuspecting local residents.
According to Sullivan Police Lt. Patrick Johnson, SPD has received a number of calls from local residents reporting various types of threatening calls.
“We get reports from residents reporting that the IRS has called them and threatening them with a warrant for their arrest; other residents have reported calls from people stating that their loved one has been arrested and they need to send money or gift cards to help get them out of jail or out of a hospital, these are not legitimate people,” said Johnson. “The IRS is not going to ask you to send them an iTunes gift card to keep you from going to jail on a warrant, it’s just not real.”
These types of calls have scammed some residents, according to authorities, some of which have been taken for thousands of dollars.
This past week, the Sullivan Police Department received a report from a local business in which a customer was trying to purchase gift cards to send to a scammer. An alert store attendant informed them this was a scam, which turned out to be the case.
Johnson encouraged the public to report the names and numbers of these types of calls to your local law enforcement agency, especially before sending money or gift cards.
“We cannot remind people enough not to fall for these calls no matter how demanding or serious these people sound,” said Johnson. “Again, law enforcement nor the IRS is going to ask you to pay them over the phone like this on a warrant. It’s just not going to happen.”
In two separate cases, Sullivan Police reported that its own 573-468-8001 phone number was spoofed by a scam caller soliciting money and threatening the individual along with a second scam caller that spoofed the IRS hotline number.
Sullivan Police can be reached by calling 573-468-8001 and incidents should be reported to authorities not only for calming of individuals receiving these calls but also to alert the public of these increased scams.