Police Warn of IRS Scam Making the Rounds in Marin

The following is a news release from the San Rafael Police Department:

Residents in Marin have recently been receiving phone calls from people claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service and demanding tax payments or fees.

These criminal scammers pose as IRS agents and may use fake titles and badge numbers in order to sound legitimate. The callers are often persistent and aggressive, and may threaten immediate legal action, including arrest. The IRS says that since October 2013, they have received reports of nearly 900,000 of these fake calls nationwide; and over 5,000 people have been scammed out of more than $26.5 million dollars.

The IRS website offers tips on how to identify a fake call and what to do. “The IRS reminds people that they can know pretty easily when a supposed IRS caller is a fake.” Here are some things the scammers often do, but the Internal Revenue Service will not:

• Initiate contact with a taxpayer by phone, email, text, or social media to ask for personal or financial information.
• Call to demand immediate payment, nor will they call about taxes owed without first having mailed a bill.
• Demand that taxes be paid without providing an opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say is owed.
• Ask for a specific payment method such as a prepaid debit card or wire transfer.
• 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 non-payment.

If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and asking for money, just hang up. You can always follow-up by taking one of the following steps:

• If you know you owe taxes or think you might owe, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. IRS staff members 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 www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov. Choose “Other” and then “Imposter Scams.” If the complaint involves someone impersonating the IRS, include the words “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes.

(Image via Shutterstock)