Apex police captain warns residents about fake IRS arrest scam

A fake IRS caller told Apex Police Capt. Ann Stephens that a sheriff’s deputy was on the way to arrest her, then ratcheted up the pressure by saying she faced as many as 25 charges for alleged drug trafficking and money laundering. Stephens did not give them her home address or Social Security number. Instead, she gave the caller the Apex Police Department address at 205 Saunders Street and shared the recording as a public warning.

The call followed a familiar script that fraudsters use to scare people into reacting before they think. The men used the names John Black and Jason Brown, and they told Stephens a deputy would arrive in 45 minutes. That kind of countdown is designed to trigger panic, make the target feel trapped, and keep the victim on the line long enough to hand over personal information. It also creates a false sense of official urgency, even though no legitimate tax agency works that way.

The IRS says it will never call to demand immediate payment with gift cards, prepaid debit cards or wire transfers, and it will not threaten arrest by local police. Anyone who gets a similar call should hang up, refuse to confirm personal details, and call the agency back using the phone number listed on the official IRS or Social Security Administration website. Never trust a caller who insists the only way to resolve the problem is to pay right away or keep the conversation secret.

The recording spread quickly after the department posted it online, drawing more than 2,300 shares and 400 comments. It also fit a pattern that has shown up elsewhere in North Carolina. In March 2018, a Fayetteville police officer got a similar IRS scam call claiming he owed almost $8,000. In March 2023, Apex police said a woman withdrew tens of thousands of dollars after a caller impersonated Deputy Chief Mitch McKinney and claimed there was a federal arrest warrant for money laundering.

The broader numbers show why these calls keep working. The Federal Trade Commission says it has received nearly 1.3 million reports of government-imposter scams since 2014, and 96% of people who reported one of those scams and named a contact method said the first contact came by telephone from January 2018 through May 2019. The IRS says tax scams can spike during filing season, but the threat never really ends, which makes a recorded warning from a local police captain exactly the kind of reminder Wake County residents need to hear.