SHIPSHEWANA, Ind. (WOWO): The Shipshewana Police Department is reporting an increased number of attempted fraud and scams via telephone and internet.

Those scams are seen via email, phishing, credit card fraud, IRS fraud, and identity theft.

Via Shipshewana PD: 

“Tax season presents criminals with another opportunity to scam and defraud trusting people. We have seen an increase in telephone calls to area residents from people pretending to be representatives from the IRS and/or FBI agents. These “Agents” use scare tactics to obtain money from their targets by making threats of arrests for unpaid taxes and fees allegedly owed.

In several cases it has been reported that the callers speak with “a foreign accent” and are “very difficult to understand. They are said to demand that their targets send them money to cover the alleged unpaid taxes or fees using a wire-transfer service or by pre-loaded debit card. In cases where the target refused to give any personal information or send them money, they have threatened to have the person arrested for not complying.”</em>