Phone Scammers Impersonate Cook County Sheriff's Officers

Cook County, IL - The Cook County Sheriff's Office is warning residents of a phone scam in which a caller claims to be a member of the sheriff’s office investigating fraud.

The scammers are using a spoofing application that makes tricks caller ID into thinking the call is coming from the sheriff's office.

The caller claims to be an officer and tells the person the IRS is investigating them for fraud. The caller says to call an IRS agent at a particular number.

The real sheriff’s office says it is not working with the IRS on any cases. Anyone who believes they may have experienced this scam or who has any information about the scammers is asked to call sheriff’s police at 708-865-4896.

Sheriff Dart offers the following tips to avoid becoming a phone scam victim:

• If you believe the call is suspicious, hang up.
• Do not give any personal information, such as social security or bank account numbers, over the phone.
• If the caller claims to be from a specific agency, hang up and call that agency to determine if there is a legitimate reason to contact you. Do not use the phone number the caller gives you.
• If you receive a phone call about owing taxes, hang up and call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 if you believe you may owe taxes.
• Report any bogus IRS phone calls to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1-800-366-4484.