Scammers hit Nineveh woman for $14k in IRS plot

Sheriff’s deputies are warning of an ongoing scam in the area that took a Johnson County woman for up to $14,500.

Sheriff Doug Cox says that phone scammers convinced the victim that she owed money to the Internal Revenue Service and had a warrant for her arrest. They coaxed her into giving up the money by purchasing iTunes gift cards at a grocery store for several thousand dollars at a time and then giving the codes to the cards over the phone to the scammers.

The IRS will never contact you by phone and threaten your arrest nor will they demand you make immediate payment. Security experts say it is always a warning sign when a caller asks you to purchase third party gift cards to pay a debt.