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N.D. (AP) – North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says a man reportedly lost almost ,000 as a result of a fake Internal Revenue Service call.

Stenehjem on Thursday said the caller threatened to get the victim arrested if he didn’t settle a phony debt stemming from his 2005 tax return.

The scammer directed the Wahpeton man to purchase 18 Green Dot cards totaling $8,897 and to read off the numbers on the back of each card. The scammer then emptied the money from the cards.

Stenehjem says hundreds of people are receiving these calls. He says the caller often has a foreign accent and it appears the calls were placed in Ireland.

He adds people should never agree to send money without first independently verifying whether an alleged debt is valid.