Crime & Safety

Phone Scam Targeting Middle Eastern Indian Community

Police say the suspect tells victims they owe back taxes to the IRS.

The Bridgewater Township Police Department is investigating reports of a phone scam that appears to be targeting the Middle Eastern Indian community.

Detective Sgt. Tim Hoey said the department has probed a few scams, including one of contractors trying to take advantage of people rebuilding after superstorm Sandy. But one targeting the specific Indian community has been most prevalent of late, Hoey said.

In the scam, Hoey said, the suspects call and identify themselves as a collection agency for the IRS.

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“They explain that the victims have open claims for back taxes owed to the IRS, and they threaten the victims with active arrest warrants if they don’t pay the full amount,” he said.

The people who are called, Hoey said, are obviously not in trouble with the IRS.

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“None of these people owe back taxes,” he said. “It’s another way of someone threatening a victim unknowingly.”

Once the scammer has the victim on the phone, Hoey said, they tell the victims to go to a retail establishment such as Walmart and purchase a prepaid card.

“You would essentially go in and get, say, a $100 prepaid card,” he said. “They give prepaid cards as cash anywhere.”

From there, Hoey said, suspects are having victims give them the serial numbers of the prepaid cards.

“That allows the perpetrators to load their own card with the guaranteed money,” he said. “Usually what they do is it is almost money laundering because they are converting it to a debit card and using the money for their own gain at any other establishment that accepts cards for purchases.”

Sometimes, Hoey said, the scammers are then returning whatever they buy with the card for cash, and taking that money.

One victim, Hoey said, was told to pay upwards of $7,000.

The second victim, who was scammed on the same day, Hoey said, called police about the suspicious activity.

“The victim was getting ready to do it, but thought better of it because they have an accountant who deals with taxes,” he said. “They thought it was a ruse to get them out of the house and that they were going to burglarize the house.”

Hoey said he doesn’t know how widespread this scam is, but other communities have reported victims of these calls.

“When you think about the amount of people who will pay to avoid legal problems, it’s definitely in the thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars worth throughout the country,” he said.

Hoey said these crimes are hard to trace because, although the prepaid cards are traceable, the suspects seem to cash out the card almost immediately, or transfer the money to another card.

“It’s almost an easy way to launder money because if they purchase merchandise with the card and then exchange it for cash, essentially you just laundered money,” he said.

As for the phone calls, Hoey said people do realize it is suspicious, but the Middle Eastern Indian community  seems to be being targeted in this scam.

“I think Middle Eastern Indians just want to be honest members of society, and they are fearful of government activity at times,” he said. “It is easier to go along with it than to question authority.”

“They are legal citizens, but I don’t know if they are naturalized,” he added. “The suspects are just preying on their honesty and their willingness to be members of the community.”

Hoey said there were five calls reported in the last three weeks, and three victims thought it was suspicious and didn’t follow through with the request.

Still, Hoey said, in any phone call that is threatening in nature with someone purporting to be from a government agency, it is most likely fraudulent.

Hoey said that in one of the cases, the scammer stayed on the phone with the victim while they got the card.

“They want you to stay on the line,” he said. “If they’re occupying you on the phone, there is less likelihood that you will have another phone available to contact someone else.”

Hoey said that if you think you are the victim of a phone scam, you should either try to record the phone number the call came through on, or ask the suspect to put someone else of authority on the line.

“The best thing to do is explain that you have professional people who take care of you, whether they be an attorney or an accountant, and you could provide their contact information,” he said.

“There is no problem with questioning legal authority because in most legitimate government agencies, they will be more than willing to entertain questions,” he added.

To report a possible phone scam, call the Bridgewater Township Police Department at 908-722-4111.


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