The Scott County Sheriff’s Office has recently received several reports regarding citizens getting phone calls from someone claiming to be an IRS agent.
The call can come from a spoofed number that looks like an IRS phone number. The person on the phone says that a debt is owed to the IRS and a warrant will be issued for your arrest if you do not pay it.
The person then gives directions to transfer money into a bank account to resolve the issue.
Sheriff Dan McClain encourages everyone to follow the scam prevention tips from the IRS.gov website below:
The IRS Will Never:
- Call to demand immediate payment over the phone, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.
- Threaten to immediately bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.
- Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.
- Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.
- Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and asking for money and you don’t owe taxes, here’s what you should do:
- Do not give out any information. Hang up immediately.
- Contact TIGTA (Treasury Inspector General Tax Administration) to report the call at 1-800-366-4484.
- Use their IRS “Impersonation Scam Reporting” web page at https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml
- Report it to the Federal Trade Commission using the “FTC Complaint Assistant” on http://www.ftc.gov (Please add “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes).
- If you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS directly at 1-800-829-1040.
For more information about IRS tax scams, visit http://www.irs.gov/.
