IRS Impostor Scams Victims Out of Thousands: Police

South San Francisco police are investigating a scam in which a man posed as IRS employee and convinced a victim to send him several thousand dollars on prepaid gift cards.

The victim reported the incident on Tuesday and told investigators he received a call from a man identifying himself as "Bexter Cruz" from the IRS, according to police.

Investigators said the man told the victim he owed $4,850 to the IRS and had to pay the money in an hour and a half or IRS officers would arrest him.

Investigators said the suspect told the victim to get the funds in cash and transfer the money to prepaid gift cards.

The victim followed the instructions and provided the suspect with access to the funds.

The police department is asking the public to be suspicious when receiving calls from unknown suspects about owing money and when transferring funds to prepaid gift cards.

The department is also asking any victims of similar scams to contact police at (650) 877-8900.