Multiple students reported fake phone calls over the past week from people claiming to be with the Internal Revenue Service.
Lt. Chuck Fleeger, public information officer for the College Station Police Department, said phone calls are still being received and there are variations of the scam, but essentially the victim will be told that they owe money, which must be paid immediately or serious consequences will be enforced.
“No governmental organization is going to call up and threaten to have a person deported or expelled or arrested if they don’t immediately pay a particular fine by getting a gift card or getting bank account numbers or any of those kind of things,” Fleeger said.
Lt. Allan Baron, public information officer for the University Police Department, said many of the victims have been international students, but there have been domestic students targeted as well.
Fleeger said if someone feels they are being targeted, they need to get the name of the agency the caller is supposedly representing, find a legitimate number for the agency and contact local police.
The IRS is working to inform the general public of the scams through a YouTube video and a report on its website.