Martinez Police Warn Residents of Widespread Scam

From the Martinez Police Department:

As we enter the tax season, citizens in Martinez may start receiving scam calls from people posing as IRS agents, asking for telephone payments (by credit card, Western Union, or GreenDot reloadable credit card) for overdue taxes.

Some scammers also send emails and use caller ID devices to make the call appear legitimate. The IRS will not call about past-due taxes; they WILL send letters by US Mail, and they will NEVER ask for payment by wire-transfer or pre-paid card.

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The advice from IRS Inspector General J. Russell George is, “Do not engage with these callers. If they call you, hang up the telephone.”

From the IRS’ announcement, “If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and uses threatening language if you don’t pay immediately, that is a sign that it really isn’t the IRS calling.”

The callers who commit this fraud often:
• Utilize an automated robocall machine.
• Use common names and fake IRS badge numbers.
• May know the last four digits of the victim’s Social Security Number.
• Make caller ID information appear as if the IRS is calling.
• Send bogus IRS e-mails to support their scam.
• Call a second or third time claiming to be the police or department of motor vehicles, and the caller ID again supports their claim.

Assuming you have not sent any funds:
• If you owe Federal taxes, or think you might owe taxes, hang up and call the IRS at800-829-1040. IRS workers can help you with your payment questions.
• If you don’t owe taxes, fill out the “IRS Impersonation scam” form on TIGTA’s website,www.treasury.gov/tigta or call TIGTA at 800-366-4484.
• You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at www.FTC.gov. Add “IRS Telephone Scam” to the comments in your complaint.

If you have sent money, you may contact the resources above. Also, you may contact our dispatch center (925) 372-3440 and inform them of the incident.

An Officer will contact you to gather the information, including the date/time, any phone numbers, credit card number used, dollar amount sent, and any other relevant details. Please save any emails received (if you did send money) to allow us to review those at a later date.

You only need to contact the Martinez Police Department if you actually sent funds. Unfortunately, these scams almost always originate overseas and it is nearly impossible to identify the suspects.

However, the Martinez Police Department continues to work with the IRS and other agencies to combat these types of crimes and to protect the Citizens of Martinez.

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