PRESS RELEASE — On Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at 10:47 a.m., the Lake Charles Police Department received a suspicious circumstances call. Officer learned the intended victim was a 24-year old male who had received a phone call from from someone with a foreign accent stating he was an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Agent and he owed the IRS $4,000.00. If he refused to pay his outstanding debt, the intended victim would be arrested. The victim was instructed to purchase some type of prepaid card and call him back at a phone number he provided and give them the prepaid card number on the back. The money would then be transferred to the suspect(s) private account.

While the Officer was at the scene, the intended victim’s phone continued to ring and ultimately the Police Officer answered the phone and identified himself as a Lake Charles Police Officer. The Officer advised the false IRS Agent that he was a fraud and he was trying to scam the victim, to no longer call the intended victim’s phone and hung up the phone.

Approximately 3 or 4 minutes later, the intended victim’s phone rang and the Officer answered the phone. The caller identified himself as an active Police Lieutenant with the “Charles Lake Police Department” and again tried to extort money from the victim. The Officer told the suspect that he knew that the caller on the phone was not the active duty Police Lieutenant he was pretending to be and hung up a second time. Several minutes later the victim’s phone rang again. The Officer answered the phone. This time the caller identified himself as the initial responding Officer and again tried to extort money from the victim.

An obvious Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scam is active in this area and the criminals are claiming to be actual Police Officers of a local law-enforcement agency and utilizing active Police Officer name(s).

The IRS does not handle collections in this manner. If you received a phone call of this nature from an individual identifying themselves as an Agent of the Internal Revenue Service stating that you must pay an outstanding debit within a certain time by purchasing a prepaid card and giving them the prepaid card number, THIS IS A SCAM. Do not comply and notify your local law-enforcement agency.