A BOLD scam that claims a warrant for your arrest will be issued within 24 hours unless you pay up is circling in the Hunter. A man, who claims to be from the Australian Taxation Office or the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, phoned at least 20 residents in the Maitland area on Thursday morning and told them if they did not pay what they owed a warrant would be issued for their arrest.
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The residents reported the call to police and said the amounts the man claimed they owed ranged from $1000 to several thousand dollars.
The man rang landlines and mobile phones, and even left voicemail messages.
He is giving each person a phone number to call and when you ring it you are asked to provide bank account details.
Towns along the east coast have been plagued with these phone calls over the past few months.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission released a warning about the scam in April.
One of the numbers the scammers are using is (02) 6100 3027 which is not a legitimate number. Central Hunter acting crime manager Acting Detective Inspector Mitch Dubojski warned people not to give out any details over the phone. ‘‘The ATO does not make contact by phone and ask for an outstanding debt to be paid,’’ he said.‘‘The claim that an arrest warrant will be issued is also not true.’’
The phone call is being made overseas and is bouncing off somewhere in New South Wales or Victoria. Police are making inquiries with telecommunication operators to track the exact location.The man is targeting randomly selected phone numbers.
Acting Detective Inspector Dubojski urged anyone who receives the phone call to write down the phone number they are given to make the payment and report it to police.