Attempted Theft By Deception (Phone Scam)

DATE & TIME: 02-16-2018 @ 9:11 am

LOCATION: Rural Wymore, Nebraska

OFFENSE: Attempted Theft By Deception (Phone Scam)

CASE #: 2018-0672

A resident of rural Wymore contacted the Gage County Sheriff’s Office and reported to an investigator that he had received a telephone call in the morning of 02-16-2018 from the phone number 202-664-8786 in which an automated voice message told him to stop avoiding paying taxes and to call back. Realizing this was an attempt to scam or defraud him, he did not call  back and notified the sheriff’s office instead.

The investigator confirmed with the victim that he had not lost any money or given out any personal, confidential, or financial information to the suspect. During the course of the investigation, the Gage County Sheriff’s Office investigator called the telephone number given by the suspect and a person with a foreign accent answered stating he was with the IRS (Internal Revenue Service). In the background the investigator heard several small children talking and a television playing. The suspect, when confronted about the veracity of his claim of being with the IRS, hung up the phone.

The Gage County Sheriff’s Office urges residents to use caution and discretion when dealing with unusual phone calls, e-mails, personal contact, or with letters requesting or demanding money, especially if there is an urgency to the request or the payment is sought by non-traditional business means, such as sending a MoneyGram or purchasing a gift card and providing the card information for payment.  Additionally, as the person reporting this to the sheriff’s office knew, the Internal Revenue Service will not call demanding payment and asking for you to call them back.

Sheriff Millard “Gus” Gustafson #903

Investigator T. Hanson #90310