South Brunswick Police have are working to stop phone scams in which someone represents himself as an IRS employee and demands that the victim immediately provide payment, or be subject to arrest.
According to South Brunswick police:
The victims are then directed to purchase Green Dot Money Pak cards and provide the card numbers. During a large portion of the cases, the victim is directed to a local CVS to purchase the Green Dot Money Pak cards.
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Police met with CVS on Route 27 in Kendall Park about the frauds in an attempt to increase awareness of the problem. CVS management has educated its employees what to look for in potential victims. CVS has identified numerous victims in the Kendall Park store and stopped them from making the transactions. In each of the cases, the victim was still on the phone with the actor while they attempted to purchase the cards. CVS no longer advertises the sale of the cards on the counter but the cards will remain available for purchase.
Similar incidents that occurred in 2013 were sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for further investigation. It was determined that those calls were spoofed with the assistance of a voice over internet protocol that originated from out of the country.
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Chief Raymond Hayducka recognized the need for greater awareness of the scams and the need to partner with private businesses in order to stop the fraud.
“We work daily to educate the public on different frauds and scams, but in CVS we found a real partner who is taking a proactive approach to stopping this crime. We hope other area businesses that sell these green dot cards would be aware of the problem and assist potential victims before they send the money to fraudulent accounts. Many of these victims believe they have no alternative but to send the money, until the CVS employee tells them it is a scam and to hang up the phone. Their staff has been able to identify potential victims and prevent their victimization,” said Hayducka.
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