ST. MARYS, Ga. — New information on an IRS scam that has gone viral on ActionNewsJax.com.
We are speaking exclusively with the local officer who turned the tables on a con artist, and he has an important message about how to avoid costly scams.
It's the call catching a scammer claiming to be with the IRS trying to get personal information.
St. Marys Police Department Lt. Shannon Brock: "Who is it I am speaking to right now?"
Scammer: "I am right now the Officer Kevin Scott of the internal revenue services."
“I have to give him props, he was very persistent,” Brock told Action News.
Brock recorded the whole conversation with the so-called IRS agent right from her desk. Here’s more of the exchange from that call:
Lt. Brock: "Where is your office currently located?
Scammer: "My office, my office is located at White House Barack Obama."
Lt. Brock: "Your office is located at the White House with Barack Obama?"
Scammer: "Yes. Do you want to speak with Obama. Sir Obama. Do you want to speak?"
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Lt. Brock: "Oh absolutely. Can you transfer me to President Obama please?"
Scammer: "Oh yeah sure, sure, he's just sitting beside me so I'm transferring your call to Sir Obama."
Lt. Brock: "Okay, thank you."
Scammer: "Yeah this is Obama here. How may I help you?"
Lt. Brock: "Yeah, you're not Obama, buddy."
“It was on occasion difficult to maintain my composure, because I was not expecting to talk to President Barack Obama,” Brock recalled of the call. “The audacity to pull that off in the same accent and tone is very entertaining.”
While the conversation may be comical, the call is capturing a very real crime in action.
“What they’re going to try and do is set up an automatic clearinghouse setting to get money out of your account,” Brock said.
Lt. Brock’s chat with the presidential impersonator actually did come from Washington, D.C.,’s 202 area code, but Brock traced it to Egypt.
We called the number to see if this IRS scam is still linked to the same number and it’s a dead line now
But there’s still the evidence from the call that’s quickly becoming a viral sensation.
"It's definitely made my week," Brock said.
Brock said any real federal government agency would not ask for your personal information over the phone.
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