Racine police: Be aware of scam phone call indicating you owe IRS money

RACINE -- Racine police are warning the public to be aware of a scam involving the IRS calling citizens and telling them they owe money.

Officials say this is an old scam that seems to come up every year during tax season. The scam consists of an automated call from the "IRS" saying that they owe money and will be taken to jail within 24 hours if they don’t pay.

The scam is extremely hard to investigate due to the method of payment that the scammers have victims pay by, officials say. The method usually involves having the victim go get some sort of gift card that they then have to give the number of to the scammer over the phone. The money off of the gift card is then spent almost immediately. It is also possible that they are told to wire transfer money to someone as well.  In both cases, it leaves police with little to follow-up on in an investigation.

Officials urge everyone to be careful not to give out personal information to anyone over the phone.