Police from Goulburn are warning members of the public to be aware of a phone scam where the caller claims to be from the Australian Tax Office and demands immediate payment for tax evasion.
Officers from The Hume Local Area Command received numerous reports from the community about suspicious phone calls that were made to their home phones during Wednesday .
Detective Inspector Chad Gillies, Crime Manager at The Hume said the calls had caused great anxiety to those who had received them.
“It appears the caller who is male and usually has an Indian or Irish accent claims that there is a debt owed to the Australian Tax Office.
“As a result, the caller claims, that a warrant has been issued for their arrest and a payment of funds is required in the next 12 hours to prevent further action.
“These phone calls have generated considerable anxiety within the community and some people have been close to transferring large amounts of cash.
“Sums between $4,000 and $20,000 have been demanded in the phone calls and I believe that in one case it was only as a result of staff intervention at a financial institution that a large sum of money was prevented from being placed into the fraudsters account.
“The vast majority of phone calls have been to people over the age of 60 so it seems there is a deliberate attempt to target that demographic.
“I am urging anyone that gets this or similar suspicious phone calls demanding money to contact their local police immediately,” Detective Inspector Gillies said.
