EAST PROVIDENCE — East Providence Police are warning consumers of a phone scam currently being perpetrated, which demands people either pay up or face jail time.
Con artists claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service are randomly calling people, saying they owe money to the government and if they don’t make amends promptly will face more fines or possible jail time, according to EPPD Detective Captain Richard Frazier.
An unfortunate pawn in the scam, Capt. Frazier said, was a 61-year-old city man, who is out $3,500.
“They called this guy and told him he owed money and if he didn’t pay he would be arrested,” Capt. Frazier explained. “They told him the only way he could pay was to go to CVS and purchase one of those pre-paid cards. He called them back, gave them the numbers on the card and its gone. He’ll never see that money again. It makes me sick that people are losing money like this.”
The victim in this instance, Capt. Frazier added, acknowledged that he thought he owed the IRS back taxes from five or six years ago, so he was easily duped. And when he received no acknowledgement from the government for his payment, he knew he had been scammed.
“It’s all bogus,” Capt. Frazier said. “We just want people to be aware. If they get a call like this, telling them they owe money and they need to go to a store and purchase any type of those pre-paid cards, it’s a scam and they shouldn’t do it. And don’t give out any of their personal information. Just hang up the phone and call the police.”
If you are a victim in this scam call the EPPD at 435-7600.