WILLIAMSBURG — Scammers tricked two neighborhood residents out of more than $13,000 in bank transfers and iTunes gift cards, according to local police.
On Sept. 15, an 83-year-old man got a menacing call from a man who said he knew where the victim lived and threatened to come to his Boerum Street home if he didn't make a series of wire transfers, police said.
This intimidated the elderly man into buying 11 iTunes gift cards with $100 each then passed the codes over the phone to the caller, according to the NYPD.
In a similar incident, a 34-year-old woman got a call at her South Ninth Street apartment from someone claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service on Sept. 24, police said.
The caller instructed the woman to make bank transfers to an account number they provided her with and she complied, also sending in iTunes gift cards. In total the woman sent $12,548, according to police.
In August, the IRS warned of a recent surge in phone schemes where callers demanded payment in gift cards, a red flag the call is a sham.
Federal tax collectors will never demand immediate payment over the phone, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill, according to the IRS.
No arrests have been made in either incident, police confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
