CHICAGO: Indian Americans, mainly those undocumented or those who have outstayed with valid visa, are now the target of a scam from con artists.
The targeted Indians, and even others from Indian subcontinent, receive telephone calls from unknown parties telling the intended victims that they are from Internal Revenue Services or collection agencies and they have to cough up with the unpaid amount or the supposed tax dues.
The callers are said to threaten the victims that they would be deported or arrested unless they comply with the demand and pay up immediately. Interestingly, the callers often speak in various Indian languages to gain the “confidence” of the victims.
The Cook County Sheriff Police sources say that they have received a number of reports from unincorporated Des Plaines area about the unknown caller threatening unsuspecting victims. In some cases, victims were instructed to make payments via Green Dot MoneyPak reloadable debit cards.
Average individual losses run into thousand of dollars and the victims are hesitant going to the Police fearing “deportation” or other legal consequences.
Sheriff Thomas J. Dart has offered following tips to avoid becoming a victim of this type of scam:
a) If you believe the call is suspicious, hang up,
b) Do not send money to anyone unfamiliar to you,
c) Do not give any personal information, such as social security or bank account numbers, over the phone and
d) Check any unfamiliar area codes before returning calls.
He also mentioned that if the caller claims to be from the Internal Revenue Service, call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to determine if the agency has a legitimate reason to call you.
If the caller claims to be from a collection agency, get the name and contact information for the collection agency and call back to determine if there is a legitimate reason to contact you, he added
Another suggestion is to add caller ID in the phone device if that device is not a part of phone service. The last but not the least, Sherrif Dart has asked that one should not hesitate in reporting any suspicious phone calls to the local law enforcement or Cook County Sheriff’s Police at 708-865-4896 immediately to enable the concerned authorities to move in the matter swiftly.
Dr Ram Gajella, a former president of Indo- American Democratic Organization and a front ranking community activist, said that they have also been tipped off about this scam and plan an awareness campaign for enlightening the members of the community.
Ramesh Soparawala
India Post News Service
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