The District Attorney’s office is warning residents this week of two different phone scams circulating in the area.

The first, from 202-239-5119.

“One local resident said that the caller claimed to be with the IRS, and if action wasn’t taken by this local resident within 24 hours they would be arrested by the IRS,” DA Walt Merrell said. “This is not true.”

The second is from the phone number 876-852-6184 – in Jamaica.

“The scammer claimed that the employee had won a Publishers Clearing House prize,” he said. “He asked if she had received a letter in the mail about her prize and then began to ask her for some personal information. She gave him a made up address and the scammer quickly realized that she wasn’t falling prey to his scam and hung up the phone.”

Merrell said that sadly more and more of these scam calls are becoming common.

“We urge you and your household to be on guard,” he said “Remember to never give any personal information to an unknown, untrusted source. Of course, winning a Publishers Clearing House prize would make for a great day provided that you entered the sweepstakes and someone showed up at your house with a big check. But remember, you can’t win if you didn’t enter, and the scammers are only trying to brighten their day – not yours – by attempting to take your hard-earned money.”

Merrell said that normally these types of scammers will ask potential victims to purchase a Green Dot MoneyPak or other type of money transfer card, to wire money to give person and banking information so that you can pay the fee to claim your prize.

“These types of call are scams,” he said.

Report any calls such as these two to the DA’s office at 222-2513.