Police Take Reports of Phone Scams

• Incident date: August 15, 2014, 5:00 pm
• Incident type: Information
• Location/address: UW Madison Campus

On Friday August 15, 2014, the UW—Madison Police Department and City of Madison Police Departments received complaints of scam phone calls. The victims in each case had similar experiences and reported to police that the caller said they were a representative of the government trying to collect owed taxes. The caller threatened each victim, telling them they could be arrested if they did not immediately pay their owed taxes. In each case, the victim realized it was a scam and did not give the caller any money.

Unfortunately, scams like this are all too common. As a general reminder, never give out personal information over the phone.  In addition, the IRS and other government agencies will NEVER call you and require you to provide payment over the phone.  When in doubt, hang up and call the agency that’s claiming to contact you — or call the police.

If you think that you have been a victim of this scam please contact the police.