Scam artists are always out there waiting to pounce on unsuspecting people and Australian Community Media journalist, Damian McGill, wants to share his recent experience.
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It's not every day in the week do you get threatened with arrest like I did.
Actually, make that twice because the scammers did call me two times on the same day and it appears they were using different numbers.
Given I have not been arrested I'm sure it was a scam.
So the calls were about some sort of irregularity with my tax and if I did not follow the instructions, by pressing the required numbers on my phone, I would end up being arrested.
It was one of those recorded messages and my first response, after the first call, was "yeah right" and I hung up.
Then about 40 minutes later the same call came in and then for a moment, and I do mean a moment, I thought maybe this is legitimate.
My moment's hesitation came because the call sounded so professional but I did what I did after the first call and just hung up.
Now my fear is that people in the community may also think "gee that is a professional call and I better do what they tell me to do". My response, and I am pretty sure the advice from the NSW Police and even Federal Police, would be to just hang up.
A couple of things in my case made me realise this was a scam.
Now if I was going to be arrested - why would the authorities ring me up and give me a warning and give me time to escape?
The police don't give criminals a warning before they are going to arrest them.
Also, I have always been happy to pay my tax - it's just something we all need to do and I put in a tax return every year.
So beware folks and if you are worried about these calls then contact the police and they will help you out.
It's not my first experience with scammers and won't be my last.
I had a few calls from people pretending to be from my bank and internet service providers.
These scammers are always pretending they are calling because they want to help you and me.
You get calls from "a bank" saying if you just give us your details we can help you with this problem. Right if you were from my bank you would have my details is my response as I hang up the phone.
One scammer was trying to tell me I was the main user of my home internet and it was in my name. Sorry no it's not and if you were from a real internet provider you would no it's not in my name," I explained as I hung up the phone.
So Sergeant Kevin Henry what should I and other residents do in these situations
"NSW South Coast Crime Prevention Unit coordinator, Sergeant Kevin Henry said, unfortunately, people, particularly elderly members of the community, are targeted and are still becoming victims of the scams and losing substantial sums of money.
"Police urge people not to provide any personal details or financial details to anyone over the phone," Sgt Henry said.
"South Coast Police has recently received several reports where substantial amounts of money have been lost.
"If you receive a call of this type and if the person calling cannot verify who they are or give a local contact hang up.
"If in doubt hang up."
Good advice Sgt Henry.
People can also go to www.scamwatch.gov.au/ for information and advice.