SHALIMAR — A Fort Walton Beach woman is the latest victim of con artists who pretend to represent the IRS.
A media release from the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office stated the 66-year-old got a phone call May 16 from someone with a heavy Hispanic or Indian accent. The person claimed to be from the IRS, and told her she owed the agency $5,233 in back taxes.
The woman says the caller used bullying and intimidation tactics and said if she did not cooperate, she could face arrest or a civil law suit.
According to the media release, the man gave her instructions to go to a store and pick up gift cards that allowed a loadable dollar amount of up to $500 and put that amount on 10 separate cards, as well as $233 on the last one.
The woman did as told and called back the subject, providing him the serial numbers for the cards.
The scammer also then asked for additional financial information. He told the woman to withdraw money from her bank account, close the account and then get a cashier’s check to deposit the money into a new account. She followed those instructions, however before calling him back, she mentioned what she was doing to a neighbor, who let her know it was a scam.
They contacted the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
"Ironically the OCSO had just put out warnings via agency Facebook and Twitter accounts earlier this week in reference to these ongoing scam attempts in the local area – and had sent out a media advisory requesting local media consider doing additional stories in reference to these attempts," the release stated.
The OSCO requests that the public spread the word as "awareness and prevention are our biggest allies in preventing local residents from being victimized.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: IRS scammers bilk Fort Walton Beach resident out of more than $5K