BROOKINGS – A local resident lost money to a scammer claiming to be from the Brookings Police Department and collecting money for the Internal Revenue Service, Assistant Chief Derrick Powers said.
“That’s not how the process works,” Powers said. “We wouldn’t be collecting unpaid money owed to the IRS.”
The scam
The theft was reported about 11:30 a.m. Thursday to the BPD.
“(The resident) received a phone call from someone who was representing themselves as being an officer with the Brookings Police Department and our number also showed up on the Caller ID, so they were spoofing our number,” Powers said.
The caller told the resident that he owed money to the IRS, which needed to be paid or a warrant would be issued for his arrest.
“Initially, they indicated a higher amount, like several thousand dollars, that he needed to pay. He said he didn’t have that much money; they reduced the amount that he’d be required to pay,” Powers said.
The resident was told to purchase gift cards and was “told to send money to a certain location (with information) from the gift cards that they purchased,” Powers said.
The resident sent more than a thousand dollars.
“After he did this, they said it wasn’t enough. He was required to come up with more. When he attempted to purchase additional gift cards, the business that he tried to do this at alerted him that they believed he was being scammed. At which point, he came in to report this to us,” Powers said.
Be aware
There are several points to look for in scams, he said.
“An officer wouldn’t be calling, demanding money in lieu of being arrested on a warrant,” Powers said.
“If we had a warrant, … we’d contact the person and pick them up on the warrant ourselves. We wouldn’t take money from them over the phone, via gift cards,” Powers said.
“If someone’s threatening you that you’re going to be arrested if you don’t send money, that should be a red flag. It doesn’t work that way,” he warned. “You shouldn’t ever have to wire money to take care of a warrant.”
Be very sure you know to whom you’re sending money. Once it’s sent, it’s untraceable.
“This could be going anywhere, even to another country,” Powers cautioned.
Before sending money, he said people should check into calls like this by calling back the police department on a local number – not one given you by the caller – to verify whether the local department is trying to reach you.
Scam indicators
Law enforcement sees many variations of these types of scams, but there are similarities.
“The thing that is the same on these things is, at some point, they are gonna say, ‘hey, wire us money to get this taken care of and then this won’t happen.’ That’s what the scam is, is they’re trying to get money from you. The story may switch, but they’re always going to ask you to go to a local business where you can wire money, purchase gift cards and those types of thing,” Powers said.
The stories may change, but they also have similarities, too.
“They’re trying to get your money through these stories, which create some concern and fear in the individuals that fall victim, (thinking) that they’re gonna be in trouble or that something else is gonna happen if they don’t,” Powers said.
Anyone with questions or concerns should call the Brookings Police Department at 692-2113 or the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office at 696-8300.
Contact Jodelle Greiner at jgreiner@brookingsregister.com.
