Scammers dial Key residents

The caller said he worked for the U.S. Treasury Department and had a matter to discuss with Peter and Nazeela Shaw — a matter so serious that he suggested they have their legal representative return his call.

Nazeela Shaw called him back. What the caller didn’t know: Shaw knew it was a scam from the beginning.

“I knew it before I called,” she said. “I just decided to have a little fun with him.”

Calls like the one the Shaws received are on the rise, according to Longboat Key Deputy Police Chief Frank Rubino.

“It is a trend nationally,” Rubino said. “We’re seeing a lot of the scams more and more, and they’re targeting the elderly in particular.”

During their conversation, the caller told Shaw that she and her husband were wanted for tax evasion from 2009 and 2010 and hadn’t responded to two notices the IRS sent them. Shaw played along.

“I said it’s fine, we’ll deal with it. I would be happy to pay,” she said.

But the caller said an IRS agent would arrive at her door in 25 minutes.

According to the IRS website, IRS.gov, victims of the scam are told they must pay what they allegedly owe through a preloaded debit card or wire transfer. If the victim refuses to cooperate, he or she is threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver’s license.

Shaw believes she would have gotten another phone call telling her where to send the money — but first, she called Longboat Key police. The caller hung up after an officer called him back.

“I think their MO is to let you sweat it out, then they’ll call you back and tell you where to send the money,” she said.

Shaw told her story to the Longboat Observer because she wants to warn others about the scam.

“They’re very convincing, and they can scare the daylights out of people,” she said.

Police are putting together a program to educate residents about scams that they hope to eventually present to homeowner associations and other groups on the Key.

Scam Sample
Aug. 6
3:12 p.m. — 300 block of GMD. Suspicious Circumstance. A caller threatened a man with an arrest warrant for tax evasion. When police tried to call the number back, no one answered the phone.

Sept. 20
2:43 p.m. — 500 block of Putter Lane. Phone Call. A caller with a heavy foreign accent told a man he owes a debt to the U.S. Treasury Service. An officer called the number and spoke with the caller about the process he was supposed to go through to return the debt. The caller hung up after the two argued about the caller’s legitimacy.

Source: Longboat Key police reports