Phone-scamming crooks posing as law-enforcement agents for the Internal Revenue Service are at it again, scaring and threatening innocent people, this time in the Benton County area, although such calls are likely to pop up anywhere at any time.
The Benton County Sheriff’s Department is warning all residents to be on guard against such crooked calls. The caller, who claims to be with the Benton County Sheriff’s Department, claims there is an arrest warrant for the phone-call recipient. If he or she doesn’t send a certain sum of money immediately to a certain place, deputies will come and arrest the person.
In fact, it’s a crock of crooked. The sheriff’s department does not call people about IRS-related arrest warrants and never asks people for money via telephone.
If any residents receive the bogus calls, they should hang up the phone and report the calls to the sheriff’s department or local police.
A similar scam has been reported in many other counties and cities, including some in Sartell a few years ago.