Madigan's office warns of phone scam

CHICAGO - The Illinois Attorney General's office is asking residents to be on the lookout for a phone scam in which callers posing as government officials attempt to get people to send money by claiming they are under criminal investigation or owe unpaid taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.

Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office issued a news release on the scam in late August but now the office says it has seen an uptick in the number of calls in the last few weeks. The callers sometimes tell the people who answer the phone they should act quickly to avoid being arrested or have their bank accounts frozen.

Often the scam artists "spoof" caller ID devices into showing they're calling from government agencies or from the Washington, D.C. area code of 202.