PASO
ROBLES, CA – With tax season in full swing, the Paso Robles
Police
Department would like to warn the public about various phone
scams
targeting local residents. The Internal Revenue Service released
the
following warning on August 28, 2014:
WASHINGTON
— The Internal Revenue Service issued a consumer alert
today
providing taxpayers with additional tips to protect themselves
from
telephone scam-artists calling and pretending to be with the IRS.
These
callers may demand money or may say you have a refund due
and
try to trick you into sharing private information. These con artists
can
sound convincing when they call. They may know a lot about you,
and
they usually alter the caller ID to make it look like the IRS is
calling.
They use fake names and bogus IRS identification badge
numbers.
If you don’t answer, they often leave an “urgent” callback
request.
“These
telephone scams are being seen in every part of the country,
and
we urge people not to be deceived by these threatening phone
calls,”
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said. “We have formal
processes
in place for people with tax issues. The IRS respects
taxpayer
rights, and these angry, shake-down calls are not how we do
business.”
The
IRS reminds people that they can know pretty easily when a
supposed
IRS caller is a fake. Here are five things the scammers often
do
but the IRS will not do. Any one of these five things is a tell-tale sign
of
a scam. The IRS will never:
1. Call
you about taxes you owe without first mailing you an official
notice.
2. Demand
that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to
question
or appeal the amount they say you owe.
3. Require
you to use a specific payment method for your taxes,
such
as a prepaid debit card.
4. Ask
for credit or debit card numbers over the phone
5. Threaten
to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups
to
have you arrested for not paying.
If
you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and
asking
for money, here’s what you should do:
•
If
you know you owe taxes or think you might owe, call the IRS at
1.800.829.1040.
The IRS workers can help you with a payment issue.
•
If
you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to believe
that
you do, report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for
Tax
Administration (TIGTA) at 1.800.366.4484 or at www.tigta.gov.
•
You
can file a complaint using the FTC Complaint Assistant;
choose
“Other” and then “Imposter Scams.” If the complaint involves
someone
impersonating the IRS, include the words “IRS Telephone
Scam”
in the notes.
Remember,
too, the IRS does not use unsolicited email, text messages
or
any social media to discuss your personal tax issue. For more
information
on reporting tax scams, go to www.irs.gov and type “scam”
in
the search box.
Additional
information about tax scams are available on IRS social
media
sites, including YouTube and Tumblr where people can search
“scam”
to find all the scam-related posts.
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