CARMI — The Carmi Police Department has received several complaints of scams going in the area.

According to the police department’s Facebook page, the two circulating  now are one involving Facebook Messenger and the IRS.

The victim is receiving a “message” from one of their “friends” from their list. In the message the “friend” is informing them that they had just won money and was informed that “you” have also and provide a number to call to claim the money and are then asked to pay a fee before taking ownership of the prize money.

The second one going around again is someone from the IRS or Social Security calling and advising of a discrepancy in your returns and advising that the victim needs to pay a dollar amount to satisfy the problem or they will have a warrant in place for their arrest.

Police ask that you don’t give any personal information out to these people or to anyone via the phone or messenger. You should never be asked to pay money before collecting money that was won.

If you receive messages from “friends” that seem suspicious, please call the “friend” to see if they sent it. If they did not, tell the “friend” their account has been hacked and a password change is needed. You should also change your password to Facebook and/or Messenger.

If you feel you have been the victim of a scam and have given out any bank information, you should immediately call your financial institution and have your accounts froze from activity.