We would like to advise members of a nationwide telephone scam that has been attempted recently in Highland Lakes. The scam involves a caller claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service advising potential victims that they may be entitled to big refunds, or that they owe money that must be paid immediately to the IRS. Potential victims may be threatened with deportation, arrest, having their utilities shut off, or having their driver’s licenses revoked.
Be aware that the IRS will always send taxpayers a written notification of any tax due via the U.S. mail. The IRS never asks for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the telephone.
If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:
- If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue, if there really is such an issue.
- If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, you’ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484.
- 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.
For more information from the IRS click here.
Thanks to WB for bringing his experience with this scam to our attention.
