Byrnes Mill Police Chief Gary Dougherty is warning residents about a phone scam.
Dougherty said June 26 that he had received several complaints over the previous week from residents who said they had received a recorded phone call from someone claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service.
The residents said the caller claimed they owed money to the IRS and gave a phone number to call, Dougherty said.
In addition, the caller said residents needed to call the number and arrange to pay the IRS or they would be arrested.
“The recording says the police are on their way and warrants have been issued for their arrest,” Dougherty said.
He said those who have returned the call say the person on the other end of the line uses strong-arm tactics to try to get them to send gift cards to pay them.
Dougherty said he’s not sure if anyone in Byrnes Mill has fallen for the scam.
He advises people to ignore any calls from strangers calling and demanding money.
“Hang up and go about your business,” Dougherty said. “First of all if someone owes the IRS money they probably know it. Secondly, the IRS doesn’t call and threaten anyone, and they definitely don’t take gift cards for payment.”
Dougherty said the phone calls are coming from New York area codes 607 and 212, as well as from 578, which is an unassigned code for North America often used to attempt to disguise the source of the call, according to reference.com.