HAVERHILL, Mass. — A Massachusetts woman fell victim to a scam after receiving a phone call from a man who claimed to be from the IRS and threatened to have her arrested if she didn’t immediately pay taxes she supposedly owed.

Charlotte Bassett, 58, has multiple disabilities, is unable to work and struggles emotionally with the loss of a son who drowned in 2004 at age 17.

Bassett said that after receiving the call on her cell phone, she drove from store to store to buy a total of $5,500 in iTunes gift cards as she was instructed to do by the caller.

She said the caller remained on the phone the entire time and repeatedly threatened to have her arrested if she told anyone about the situation she was in. She said that when questioned by store clerks about why she was spending so much on iTunes cards, she told them they were for her grandson’s upcoming birthday.

Bassett said that when members of her family found out what happened, they called police, who told them it is unlikely the money will ever be returned.

“For the last two years, my sister hasn’t had two nickels to rub together until she received a retroactive check in April from the government after being approved for disability,” Charlene Pigulski said of her sister, Bassett. “She waited so long for that money to come through and now most of it is gone.”

Pigulski said her sister wanted to make her situation known to the public in hopes that other people will not fall victim to the same kind of scam that police and government agencies have been warning people about for several years.

Similar to other scams

The recent scam differs from past scams of this kind. In those past scams, the caller asked victims to buy Green Dot MoneyPak cards, which are essentially pre-loaded debit cards. Revealing a number printed on the back of the cards gives the scammers instant access to the money loaded onto the cards. 

As Bassett spoke to The Eagle-Tribune, she sat at a table in the small kitchen of her boyfriend’s apartment, surrounded by mementos of her life including photographs her son Danny Thuillier, who drowned in 2004. The boy was living in Vermont with his father at the time. Pigulski said that after the loss of Danny, her sister has never been the same.

An empty Pringles can that Danny had left behind when he was 16 rests on a small shelf in the apartment. Bassett wrapped it in aluminum foil, decorated it and uses it as a candle-holder. It is a treasured remembrance of her son.

Pigulski said Bassett has always been a very giving person who believes whatever she is told.

“Charlotte’s heart is bigger than all of her three sisters combined,” Pigulski said.

Bassett, who struggles with mental health issues and has problems with her hip that requires the aid of walking cane, said she received the call on her “SafeLink” cell phone late Tuesday morning from a man who said he was from the IRS. She said the man had an accent, possibly Indian, and told her there was something wrong with her tax returns from 2010 to 2012. He said if she didn’t resolve the problem immediately, police would be at her home in a half-hour because there is a warrant for her arrest.

“He told me to go to the bank and to withdraw money and purchase iTunes gift cards at $500 each,” she said. “I went to the CVS in Monument Square and purchased four cards, then Walgreens in the square to purchase four more. Then I went to the CVS at Westgate Plaza and got one more, then to the Walgreens there but they told me I’d reached my limit, so I went to the 711 on River Street and got two more.”

Bassett said the man stayed on the phone the entire time. After each purchase, he told her to scratch off the numbers of each card and read them to him towards payment of the taxes, she said.

“I really though the police were coming for me,” said Bassett. 

Physically and emotionally exhausted from the ordeal, Bassett told the caller she was feeling dizzy and was thirsty as she went from store to store. She said he told her to “relax” and to have something to drink.

“I was in the car so long that my legs were getting numb,” she said. 

Victim tells family

When Bassett returned to her apartment building, she called her mother to tell her what happened. She said her mother immediately contacted Bassett’s sister, Pigulski.

“My mother said she didn’t have the details, but thought a man was in my sister’s apartment, so I told her to call the police,” Pigulski said. 

When their mother arrived, Bassett was outside the apartment, still on the phone with the caller. Bassett said she was getting ready to go shopping for additional iTunes cards. 

By that time, the caller had used up most of her monthly allotment of cell phone minutes, Bassett said.

“The caller told me he also just found a problem with my 2009 taxes and that I owed even more money,” Bassett said. “He told me that if I lost the connection to call 929-227-6788 and to ask for Kevin Smith.”

Bassett ended the call, but when her sister Pigulski arrived, Bassett’s cell phone rang again.

“She handed it to me and it was ‘Kevin Smith’ again,” Pigulski said. “He told me that more money was needed and I told him the IRS doesn’t call people and request payment with iTunes cards.”

Pigulski said she told the man that he had just stolen $5,500 from her disabled sister and that he “laughed” and said he wasn’t scamming anyone. He said he would get his manager to discuss the situation, Pigulski said.

“I was put on hold, then another man answered and I told him I want him to return my sister’s money, and he said he can do that, and I was yelling,” Pigulski said. “He told me not to get hostile, and I told him I was going to the media and that I would be notifying the FBI.

“He threatened to have my sister put in jail for three years and I told him I’d rather she go to jail than for you to have the money you took from her,” Pigulski said. “He told me he’d refund the money and I asked that it be sent overnight. And that was it.”

That evening, Bassett received yet another call from the same man.

“I gave the phone to my boyfriend, who called him a ‘low life,’ then the caller asked for my sister, then hung up,” Bassett said. “So far he hasn’t called back.”

IRS issues warning

The Eagle-Tribune called the number Bassett provided and reached a man who, in an accent, answered, “U.S. Department of Treasury, how can I help you?”

When a reporter asked to be put through to Kevin Smith, another man answered. After the reporter identified himself, the man used profanity and hung up.

“I don’t think I’ll ever see my money again,” Bassett said.

Pigulski said that during her brief conversation with the caller, she got the impression that he was very practiced in convincing victims to go along with his requests.

“These people really are professional at what they do,” Pigulski said. “Although I knew it was a scam, the man was so convincing that even I had my doubts.”

On May 27, the IRS issued a warning to taxpayers about bogus phone calls from IRS impersonators demanding payment for a non-existent tax, the “Federal Student Tax.”

“These scams and schemes continue to evolve nationwide, and now they’re trying to trick students,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “Taxpayers should remain vigilant and not fall prey to these aggressive calls demanding immediate payment of a tax supposedly owed.”

According to the IRS, scam artists frequently masquerade as being from the IRS, a tax company and sometimes even a state revenue department. Many scammers use threats to intimidate and bully people into paying a tax bill, the IRS said. They may even threaten to arrest, deport or revoke the driver’s license of their victim if they don’t get the money, IRS officials said.

IRS officials said their staff will never take the following actions: Call to demand immediate payment over the phone or call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill; threaten to immediately bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying; demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe; require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card; ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

LaBella writes for the North Andover, Massachusetts Eagle-Tribune.