Over the course of six months, a Johnson County woman lost $35,000 to scammers pretending to be with the IRS.
The woman told officers that she had started receiving emails in May that claimed to be from the IRS. She called the number listed on the emails and was told she owed money to the IRS, and needed to pay it back by purchasing gift cards and sending pictures of the numbers on the cards, a Johnson County Sheriff’s Office report said.
After purchasing and sending photos of the first card, she was repeatedly contacted again and told to purchase more gift cards, which she did until November 2017, the report said.
In February, a relative began looking into why the woman had stopped paying her rent and bills and noticed a large amount of money missing from the woman’s bank account, the report said. The woman then told relatives about the IRS scam, and relatives contacted police.
Since 2017, at least three other Johnson County residents have lost money to IRS scams, with amounts ranging from $1,700 to $14,500, according to police reports.
In each of those cases, residents would receive phone calls or emails from scammers pretending to be with the IRS, who would claim that the resident owed money and had a warrant for their arrest. Residents were told to purchase gift cards and read those numbers to the scammers to avoid being arrested.
The IRS will not contact people by phone without first having mailed them a bill. During phone calls, the IRS will not demand immediate payment, ask for credit or debit card numbers or other specific methods of payment or threaten someone with arrest, according to the IRS website.
In recent months, two residents also have lost money to scammers who claimed the people had missed jury duty and needed to pay a fine to avoid being arrested.
Last year, a Johnson County man lost $60,000 in a scam after sending money to a woman he met online who said she needed the funds to get access to her multimillion dollar inheritance.
