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A possible new telephone scam has cost several Kosciusko County residents thousands of dollars over the past week.
Elderly couples and individuals have reported receiving phone calls from a man calling himself Thomas Cohen, claiming to be with the Internal Revenue Service. Cohen reportedly tells the people that they have won a lottery and will be eligible to collect their prize after paying taxes.
A hefty tax bill is quoted to the individuals and they are told to send the money via MoneyGram, a hard-to-track method of transferring cash.
One Milford couple reportedly sent more than $12,000 to the allegedly fraudulent IRS man and were prepared to send another $7,400 before a bank teller contacted police because of the frequent high cash withdrawals.
Another retired Winona Lake woman reportedly was stopped from withdrawing $4,000 she intended to send the caller after a Lake City Bank teller suspected fraud.
According to Detective J.D. Ayres of the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department, this appears to be a relatively new scam. The sheriff's department learned of the calls Tuesday after receiving reports of the cash withdrawals and inquiring calls from citizens.
The sheriff's department and Warsaw Police Department are investigating the incidents and urge anyone who has been contacted by the fraudulent IRS caller to contact them immediately.
