A person or people claiming to work for the U.S. Treasury Department have called dozens of residents of a Ventura County city threatening them with arrest if they don't pay supposed tax debts, police said.
Seventy-two residents contacted the Camarillo Police Department about the scam, in which the caller said the resident was behind in paying their taxes and that they would be arrested if they didn't pay up, according to a police news release.
In some instances, the caller claimed he was with the Treasury; in others he claimed he worked for a collection agency. The man had a foreign accent, police said.
Most of the calls came from the 818 area code, though others came from 323, 713, 804 and 209 area codes, police said.
Police are reminding residents that requests for unpaid taxes without documentation are likely bogus. Anyone who gets such a call can report it to the Ventura County Sheriff's Department at 805-654-9511.
