DODGE COUNTY -- Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt has released an audio recording of a scam call he received on Thursday morning, May 12th in which the scammer admits to ripping people off.
According to a release from the Dodge County Sheriff's Office, the telephone call came in from the phone number: 605-291-6542.
The caller stated:
Sheriff Schmidt called back -- and a woman answered the phone, saying: "Internal Revenue Service."
Sheriff Schmidt inquired if there was a way to verify that they were the IRS. The response was: "It is not our job to verify who we are” and they hung up.
Sheriff Schmidt called back again. This time, a man answered.
Below is an audio recording and transcript of the conversation between the scammer and Sheriff Schmidt:
Scammer: “Thank you for calling the Internal Revenue Service. How may I help you?”
Sheriff Schmidt: “I am the Sheriff in Dodge County Wisconsin, and I had a complaint about this number and I am trying to confirm that this is in fact the IRS. Is there a way that you can confirm this for me?”
Scammer: “No sir, this is not the IRS. This is a scam."
Sheriff Schmidt: “This is a scam?”
Scammer: “Yes”
Sheriff Schmidt: “OK, can you tell me where you are from? Where you are located?”
Scammer: “In Afghanistan”
Sheriff Schmidt: “In Afghanistan?”
Scammer: “Yes”
Sheriff Schmidt: “Can you tell me your name?”
Scammer: “Malma Dahli"
Sheriff Schmidt: “Why are you scamming our citizens?”
Scammer: “This is our job sir”
Sheriff Schmidt: “You’re stealing money from people”
Scammer: “Yes”
Sheriff Schmidt: “And why are you doing that?"
At this time, the scammer hung up on the sheriff.
According to the Sheriff's Office, a phone number of a personal cell phone was given to Sheriff Schmidt by the scammer which turned out to be a private number to a citizen in Illinois. That portion of the phone call was edited out to protect that person’s identity and phone number.
Sheriff's officials said this in a statement: