Milan police warn residents about suspicious phone calls

MILAN, Tenn. — The Milan Police Department is investigating after more and more residents are receiving suspicious phone calls.

“Harassing calls, competitive calls from people who are claiming to be the IRS or people claiming to have arrest warrants with them, and if they don’t send money to a certain location then they are going to be arrested by the police,” Investigator Chris Vandiver said.

Officials say almost 20 complaints were made in just the past few days.

“A voicemail was left to one of our victims claiming to have several warrants against him and if he didn’t take action he would be picked up by the local police,” Vandiver said.

“I called the number that was left and they claimed to be the IRS handling center,” Vandiver said.

He says when he called, the operator on the other end hung up. He tried calling the same number Wednesday and got a message that the number was disconnected.

“A lot of times these scams will involve two different people,” Vandiver said. “You would send that money to one here in the United States and then that person will send that money to another country.”

Officials say if you get a suspicious call to use common sense.

“People probably know whether or not they have warrants out on them. People should know whether or not they owe the IRS back tax money,” Vandiver said.