— from Sheriff Ron Krebs —
Recently, the Sheriff’s Office has received several phone calls regarding IRS phone scams. These scams are common during tax season and victims often lose thousands of dollars. These scams start with phone calls from someone claiming to be an agent or officer of the IRS.
Victims are told they have an outstanding debt with the IRS that is due immediately or they will be subject to arrest, deportation or suspension of business or driver’s license. The scam artist will demand payment of the outstanding debt by way of a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer.
Some things to remember if you receive a call claiming you owe the IRS money. The IRS does not initiate tax collection via the telephone. They send letters and collection notices in the mail with contact numbers for YOU to call. They will never email you about a tax debt and they will never demand immediate payment thru cash-by-wire transfers.
If you question whether the person calling you is actually from the IRS, contact the IRS directly at (800) 647-7706. If you think you’ve been a victim of an IRS tax fraud scheme, call the Sheriff’s Office at (360) 378-4151.For more detailed information on this scam, visit www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Warns-of-Pervasive-Telephone-Scam.
Finally, if you question a phone call, phone message or email, listen to your instincts, they are
usually right.
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Sheriff, thank you for bringing this scam to light. I wanted to additionally comment on some recent scams that have come to my attention through Senior Services:
** A caller claiming you will get a free Lifeline, you just need to pay for shipping. This is not true. They get your account information for shipping and then never send anything. There is no life alert company giving free devices or devices “ordered for you as a gift” who will call you.
** Solicitation for a sheriffs department fund for fallen officers. They do not solicit via phone.
** Medicare needing to “update their records” and will also ask for social security numbers. Medicare will not communicate by phone for this information.
As a general rule, I advise seniors to simply never give out any information when someone calls in. Take the information from them, but research it yourself. Often when you start jettisoning them they will just hang up. When in doubt, don’t!