Sheriff Armando Fontoura issued a consumer alert providing taxpayers with tips to protect themselves from telephone scam artists calling and pretending to be with the IRS.
Sheriff Fontoura stated that numerous local residents have contacted the department to report callers, many of whom identify themselves as Essex County sheriff’s officers, who demand money or may say you have a refund due and try to trick you into sharing your private information.
“These people are con artists who can sound convincing when they call,” Fontoura said. “The scam artists may know a lot about you, and they usually alter the caller ID to make it look like the Internal Revenue Service or our department is calling you. They use fake names and bogus IRS or police identification badge numbers. The scammers frequently claim that they possess an arrest warrant for their victims if they fail to pay immediately.
Do not be deceived by these threatening phone calls.” Sheriff Fontoura highlighted 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:
Call to demand immediate payment, nor will the IRS 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 a sheriff’s officer or 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.