All Indiana physicians should be aware of a highly sophisticated and dangerous financial scam targeting Hoosier health care professionals.
 
In recent months, the FBI Indianapolis Division has fielded multiple calls from physicians and physician assistants who have been scammed out of thousands of dollars. The perpetrators have impersonated law enforcement officers in phone calls, claiming money was owed to them based on fictitious missed court dates, before meeting with the victims in public and collecting cash and gift cards from them. The scammer has specifically targeted females with ethnically diverse last names.
 
According to a Joint Situation Report by the FBI, two related instances were reported in Indianapolis and Evansville this past July. In Indianapolis, following a phone call, a female physician and physician assistant met with the alleged scammer in a bail bondsman parking lot and paid cash for a fake police warrant. The Evansville scam targeted a clinical addiction counselor and a physician assistant, who met the scammer in a civic center parking lot behind the courthouse and gave him gift cards to pay their nonexistent debt.
 
The victims reported the calls displayed fake sheriff’s department caller IDs. They described the scammer as persistent and “aggressive.” 
 
If you have any additional information, contact FBI Indianapolis at 317-595-4000. If you receive a suspicious or similar call, contact local law enforcement immediately and/or file a report online at www.IC3.gov.