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IRS Phone Scam Reported In North Escambia Area
December 6, 2015
The Better Business Bureau, and local residents, are warning that an IRS scam is taking place in the North Escambia area.
“Someone called me today and told me this is my last notice, and if I didn’t call a specified number and make arrangements to pay, my wages would be garnished,” a NorthEscambia.com reader in Cantonment wrote in an email to our newsroom. That particular call from a 318 area code in Louisiana.
The IRS has seen a surge of these phone scams in recent months as scam artists threaten police arrest, deportation, license revocation and other things. The IRS reminds taxpayers to guard against all sorts of con games.
“If someone calls unexpectedly claiming to be from the IRS with aggressive threats if you don’t pay immediately, it’s a scam artist calling,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “The first IRS contact with taxpayers is usually through the mail. Taxpayers have rights, and this is not how we do business.”
Phone scams have been a persistent and pervasive problem for many taxpayers for many months. Scammers are able to alter caller ID numbers to make it look like the IRS is calling. They use fake names and bogus IRS badge numbers. They often leave “urgent” callback requests. They prey on the most vulnerable people, such as the elderly, newly arrived immigrants and those whose first language is not English. Scammers have been known to impersonate agents from IRS Criminal Investigation as well.
“These criminals try to scare and shock you into providing personal financial information on the spot while you are off guard,” Koskinen said. “Don’t be taken in and don’t engage these people over the phone.”
The IRS will never:
- Call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.
- 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.
- 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 TIGTA at 1-800-366-4484 or at www.tigta.gov.
- If you’ve been targeted by this scam, also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov. Please add “IRS Telephone Scam” to the comments of your complaint.
Comments
11 Responses to “IRS Phone Scam Reported In North Escambia Area”
I received a call today, 12/7/15, from 240-319 XXXX, stating I needed to take immediate action, otherwise the IRS would be filing a lawsuit against me. I reported the call to the Feds via the internet at http://www.tigta.gov.
I got some of these calls and they left a message on my answering machine. My outgoing message states that I will delete calls from telemarketers and political callers. Most hang up and try again but a few will leave a message anyway. I get many calls but I think the IRS scammer was a call from New York, not Louisiana. I have not received any telemarketer calls from area code 318. I do agree that the IRS official contact method is though the US Mail, not your phone, therefore I knew this was a scam.
A good response to these scamsters would be that imprisonment for tax evasion without at least a hearing is illegal, not to mention the fact that, yes, the Feds will come after you for non-payment of taxes, but it has to be pretty egregious by the time it gets to the point where they come after you. Hang up.
Do not call the scammer back!
Some have it set up so that when you call them back, the charges for the call and sometimes more $$ get charged to your phone bill.
So many rotten con artist out there. If you don’t know your caller, don’t answer the phone.
I received this call months ago, I called the Sheriff’s dept. and I was told to ignore it. So I did, and they called back. So I took the number and called back to the scammer. I kept them on the phone a good long time scamming them as to how freighted I was to have IRS troubles. At the end of the call I started to ask them how it felt to be scammed, but they hung up.
Hopefully in the time I kept them on the line they weren’t able to scam others.
I doubt it, but it was FUN!
I received a call like this last year. The person on the phone told me that the Attorney General of the United States was issuing a warrant for my arrest for failure to pay taxes but if I sent $1500 he would make sure that warrant would be taken care of and go away. I told him to go ahead and tell the Attorney General of the United States to issue that warrant and my lawyer would handle the matter. He threatened me, cursed me but I remained calm and said just contact my lawyer. Guess what – I never heard anything else regarding this. I do pay my taxes on time so I knew this was a scam. Please do not let these types of people and phone calls get your hard earned money. Best thing to do is just hang up. Living and learning in North Escambia County.
I got one of those calls last year. I asked for his ID number. He got all flustered. I reported them to the actual IRS, (the phone number). Then I got a different phone, and called the number back. I turned his own game on him. Told him that “we are aware” that he is impersonating an IRS agent, that “we” did not like that. Told him to expect the actual IRS at his door very soon, and they would be taking him in. Told him there was a good long prison sentence for impersonating a government official, and that I wished him good luck. About that time I heard sirens on his end and he wailed and hung up. Coincidence of course, but I bet he had to change pants.
But yeah, moral of the story? report these scams to the IRS. go to the website and find out how.
YES I TO HAVE RECIVED THOSE CALLS, BUT THE ONES I RECIVED WAS FROM SUNNTSIDE WA. NUMBER 509-790-xxxx. YOU WOULD THINK THAT THE IRS COULD STOP ALL THOSE CALLS !!!! IF YOU KNOW THE NUMBER IT’S NOT THAT HARD TO STOP THEM JUST TELL ATT OR WHAT EVER PHONE COMPANY TO CUT LINE !! THAT WILL STOP IT OR PUT THIM IN JAIL.
i posted on this a while back. its been going on over a year. you get the call telling you its the IRS and you owe money and a certain #. just hang up. i entered that # on my computer with a question mark behind it and a fraud alert came up. also a comment list as long as your arm with everyone posting the same scam. mine came on a saturday. The irs does not call you and being a part of the federal government surely would not call on a saturday.
I was a recipient of one of these “urgent” call back messages two weeks ago. The caller ID listed “Portland, Oregon”. The “gentleman” told me that a warrant had been issued for my arrest. He stated that 45 minutes after the call terminated, Escambia County Police would be on my porch to handcuff me and take me to jail. I had had a long day at school. I informed him that I was going to make my own phone call to check him out. I told him that the call had to be a scam. He began yelling and I hung up. I was angry about the call; but even angrier thinking about the innocent elderly of our community who could experience this harassment!! These deadbeats need to get off their derrieres and get a real job to get money – quit feeding off the elderly!