Biggby Coffee victim of IRS fraud

Chesterton Police are investigating a fraud case committed against Biggby Coffee, 3091 Village Point, by an unknown individual posing as an agent with the Internal Revenue Service.

On Monday, July 1, at 7 p.m., a Biggby’s employee answered a call on the store phone from a man named “Jamie King,” who spoke with a “South American accent” and identified himself as an IRS agent, according to a press release on the police department’s Facebook page.

The caller told the employee that she needed to count the number of U.S. banknotes in all cash registers in advance of an “audit” – which was allegedly prompted by the store “accepting and depositing counterfeit money,” police said.

According to police, she was also instructed “not to contact Biggby management due to confidentiality requirements.”

The employee did as instructed, then, upon further instruction, placed all the paper money in a bag – “no change, per ‘Jamie’s request'” – and took the cash to two different “approved stores” that sell Green Dot Money Pack cards, namely Walgreens and Dollar Tree in Chesterton.

There she bought a total of three tickets and divided the money into three equal amounts, police said.

The employee was then instructed to place the cards and receipts in an envelope addressed to the Internal Revenue Service in Austin, Texas, and place the envelope in the drive-thru mailbox at the Chesterton post office, police said.

Eventually, “Jamie” told the employee that she would receive a call from her supervisor’s cell phone. She did indeed receive the call, but believes his cell phone number was spoofed, police said.

Although the investigating officer tried unsuccessfully to access the mailbox – “due to the late hour of the night” he was unable to contact the U.S. Postal Service – he later learned that the employee had scratched off the protective covers of all three cards and given the numbers to “Jamie,” “not knowing that by doing so he would complete the fraud and make the money available to the recipient,” police said.

Chesterton police did not disclose the amount of money lost in the scam. The case has been referred to the agency’s investigative division.