OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha police say a number of telephone scams in which people are threatened with arrest have been reported recently in the city.

The calls are generated from an area code outside of Nebraska.

Police say the callers identify themselves as a special agent from the Internal Revenue Service, and even sometimes give a badge number. The callers will claim that the IRS has issued an arrest warrant for the person and the matter can be settled with a wire transfer payment of thousands of dollars.

Police say local, state and federal agencies will always interact in person, not just over the phone. Residents are urged to never give out their bank information over the phone or wire money to an unknown account.