Police warn of additional phone scams

Scammers are calling our local residents, presenting themselves in a variety of different ways.

While many are thinking about tax time, the scammers are capitalizing on it. A resident called the Police Department this morning saying that he’d received a call from someone representing the Internal Revenue Service saying that he owed back taxes. Thankfully, he didn’t give in to the scammers request to provide banking information so the alleged back tax debt could be settled.

Other residents this week have reported receiving a call from Resort Rewards and ATT. Another resident called the Police Department to report her elderly father receiving a call asking for money to get his grandson out of jail following a car accident.

“The same rule applies every time. Don’t give out financial information, be it bank account or credit card, over the phone to any caller. It doesn’t matter what the caller ID indicates or the phone number they appear to be calling from. Scammers can spoof the caller ID display to make it appear they are legitimate or even calling from a local number,” says Ponca City Police Chief Don Bohon.

“The monetary losses to scams are virtually impossible to recover and these crimes have proven to equally as difficult to make arrests for,” Bohon said.