UPPER EAST SIDE — A person pretending to be an IRS employee tricked an Upper East Side man out of $22,000 last week, the NYPD said.
Someone claiming to be from the IRS called the 44-year-old victim at about 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 24 and demanded he wire money and buy Target gift cards worth thousands of dollars to make a payment to the agency, according to police.
The man complied, wiring $18,000 to the thief and reading him the numbers off two Target gift cards he purchased for $2,000 each, authorities said.
Later that evening, at 6:15 p.m., the victim realized he'd been duped and reported it to police.
The incident is the latest in a rash of IRS scams happening across the city. Two Upper East Siders were tricked out of thousands of dollars by a similar scam earlier this month.
Police advise people hang up when they receive a call from someone claiming to be the IRS and demanding money via wire.
#ScamAlert: Victim received ☎️ from someone posing as #IRS demanded $4K in Target gift cards & also wired $18K #UES pic.twitter.com/TlDHCm4Bk5
— NYPD 19th Precinct (@NYPD19Pct) August 25, 2016
