Man Scammed, Lost Thousands in Fraud Case

• Incident date: July 29, 2014, 12:00 pm
• Incident type: Fraud
• Location/address: UW-Madison Campus

On Tuesday, July 29, an Eagle Heights resident contacted the UW-Madison Police Department to report a fraud case.

The victim told UWPD he received a phone call from a Delaware phone number — the man on the other end of the line identified himself as “Jimmy Arthur” from the “Federal Tax Department.” The caller told the victim that there was a warrant out for his arrest because of unpaid state taxes.  He told the victim if he hung up, the “Madison area authorities” would arrest and deport him. The caller claimed he owed $1,320 in taxes, and needed to pay the amount immediately.

According to the victim, the caller then “transferred” the him to a woman, who instructed him to travel to numerous ATM’s and convenience stores in the Madison area to withdraw money and purchase pre-paid cash cards.  The caller stayed on the phone with the victim the entire time. Eventually, the victim gave the caller the numbers on the purchased cash cards, which the caller claimed “took care of the taxes.”  However, the process continued as the caller told the victim he needed to pay another $3,000 to “clear up the warrant.”  When all was said and done, the victim was scammed out of approximately $4,320.  It’s believed the call originated overseas.

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.