Police Warn Residents of Tax Return Scam

NEWTOWN SQUARE–The FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has put out a report of recent Internet scams, announced recently.

According to police, this report is based upon information from law enforcement and complaints submitted to the IC3, which details recent cyber crime trends, new twists to previously-existing cyber scams, and announcements.

Newtown Police received a complaint on April 19 from a township resident who discovered he was a victim to one of these scams. According to police, the resident was a victim of identity theft from a fraudulent tax return scam.

According to IC3, the tax return scam involves electronically submitting a fraudulent tax return for a hefty refund.

The IC3 reports:

Subjects are incorporating the use of bogus IRS documents to perpetrate this scheme. One example of how subjects are using bogus IRS documents to commit investment fraud and steal victims' identities is by the subjects posing as a tax consulting firm. The subjects engage potential victims via telephone and attempt to convince them to sell their underperforming shares in a company. The potential victim is advised to sell their corporate shares, applicable taxes must be paid. Some of the victims were also advised they had to buy other certain shares with their profit. Documents such as share certificates and invoices for federal and state taxes were exchanged via e-mail. After the funds were wired, the subjects became unresponsive to the victim’s inquiries. An open source search also revealed multiple complaints concerning this scheme. It is unknown at this time how the subjects obtained knowledge that the victims actually owned underperforming stocks.