The Knoxville Police Department is warning about scams related to COVID-19 stimulus checks.

There have been a variety of ways, but some of those came in the form of overpayments. In these instances, the victim receives a fraudulent check in the mail and receives a call a short time later from a scammer indicating that they were provided too much money on their check. The scammer then asks for the victim to pay back the overage, typically via pre-paid Visa or green dot cards. These are common scams, but are very difficult to investigate due to the relative anonymity of the suspect(s).

KPD warns that only legitimate stimulus checks will be sent by the U.S. government. The IRS will not call, text, email or contact you via social media to request personal information or payment.

If you believe you or someone you know fell victim to a COVID-19 stimulus check scam, please report it to your local police and the Federal Trade Commission at report fraud dot f t c dot gov

You can get more information about COVID-19 scams and other financial schemes by visiting IRS.gov.