Kennewick Woman Gets the Best of Phone Scammer!

Thursda, we got a social media message from one of our listeners, who informed us of a potential scam that could have happened to other people in the Tri-Cities and surrounding area.

Stephanie sent us the following message:

"Hello, I'm not sure who to reach out to to spread the word but I just received a call from a California area code, phone number 310-363-7599. I was told they were with the "United States Treasury Department" and I owed over $5,000 in back taxes for my tax returns in the year 2013. When I confronted her and said nothing has been sent to me in writing she said in a heavy Indian accent that this was my "last phone call for payment before we send someone out to arrest you" I said the IRS and Treasury department are two completely separate things and you aren't even in this country, she hung up on me. As I said I'm not sure who to reach out to but I'm hoping you may be able to spread the word that this is clearly a scam and I don't want any local people to fall prey to it! Thank you so much for your time!"

Stephanie, we thank you for alerting us to this. So, if you receive a call from this number, and the person on the other line runs any kind of similar scam, especially with the accent, make sure you don't give them any personal information. Report any specific details, even if they seem insignificant, to police or authorities.

The more information they get, the better chance of catching them or at least disrupting their scam to the point where they will stop or go somewhere else.