IRS Phone Scam Victims Bilked Out Of $20K In Parsippany: Cops

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Two female Parsippany residents were bilked out of more than $20,000 over the course of 24 hours in phony IRS phone scams, Parsippany police said.

On Jan. 26 a woman came to Parsippany police to report she was the victim of an IRS scam. The victims said she was contacted by phone by an IRS employee and advised she owed $7,000 in taxes and would have to pay them immediately or be arrested, police said.

The victim went to a Western Union location in Parsippany and wired $3,000, which is the maximum allowed per transfer, to a person named Martin Douglas, police said.

The victim told police she attempted to cancel the transfer when she became suspicious of the call and wire transfer, but it was too late to retrieve the money.

A day earlier, another woman fell victim to a similar scam, police said, when she was bothered over the phone from 11 a.m. to late in the day. The victim was told over the phone by someone posing as an IRS employee that she owed $17,500 in back taxes, and she was also threatened with arrest if she did immediately pay or hung up the phone, police said.

The fake IRS employee, who identified himself as Melvin Harris, instructed the victim to go to multiple MoneyGram locations and wire money to satisfy the back taxes, police said. The victim did so and lost the money.

Both incidents are under investigation. Anyone with information about this is asked to call police at 973-263-4313.

Police have also issued tips regarding these situations:

• The IRS does not ask payment via pre-paid debit cards or wire transfers.
• The IRS will contact you via USPS mail first, then a possible phone call.
• The IRS will not force you to immediately pay because you have the right to appeal.
• Do not trust your caller ID. Scammers will spoof their caller ID to look like they are legitimately from the IRS or other agencies.
• The IRS will not threaten you with immediate arrest or force you to stay on the phone.
• If you suspect the call is fraudulent hang up and call the IRS at 800-829-1040 and they can assist you in determining if you do in fact owe money.