IRS Phone Scam Nets $30K In Parsippany, Police Remind Residents To Stay Vigilant

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – The year’s only halfway over, and Parsippany residents have already lost some $30,000 to an ongoing phone scam that has worked its way through the area.

In a Facebook post over the weekend, Parsippany police reminded residents that any money given over in this scam is unrecoverable, and offered tips on how to avoid falling for the crime.

Police said:

*****The IRS not is going to ask for iTune gift cards or any gift cards, green dot money cards, or an immediate wired transfer while you are on the phone with them. We are not going to come and arrest you like the caller states and no warrant exists for your arrest. If you think you may owe money to the IRS call them directly at the numbers found in the link below*****

IRS, Immigration, and other Government Organization Scams

If you receive a phone call that claims to be from the IRS, Immigration, or other Government Organizations which threaten you with immediate arrest or the issuance of a warrant unless you wire them money it is a scam. Even if the caller ID shows a legitimate government organization it can be a scam because modern technology lets criminals spoof, which means fake the name and number, which makes them appear legitimate. They may tell you that you owe various amounts in back taxes. They may threaten to deport you, which will not happen. They may also claim that your identity was stolen and you need to pay a certain amount of money to redo your immigration paperwork, usually a few hundred, to a few thousand dollars. Whenever you get this type of call and you think it may me legitimate please search the internet for the phone number to the supposed agency that is calling you and call it back to inquire about the legitimacy. Do not believe the number they are giving you to call back. You can also try doing a search of the phone number they are calling from on the internet and see if it is associated to scams. This method is not fool proof since they can fake the legitimate number to come up on caller ID as I said earlier. Never give personal information to anyone even if they request it. Never wire money, purchase visa gift cards, or money cards like Green Dot and give them the information. Once they have the wire information, gift card numbers, or Green Dot information they will get the money and you will not get it back.

Laws have changed that let the IRS call for outstanding taxes, but this has not started yet. The IRS will first send you notifications via mail. There is currently an effort underway to stop the IRS from being able to call you or have a collection agency call you to collect owed taxes. If and when that does pass we will update the public.

If you simply get the phone call, but do not send them any money you can report the phone call with the FTC on their website.

If you are a victim of the scam AND send them money please call the Parsippany Police Departments non emergency phone number at 973-263-4300.