Wethersfield Police Warning Residents About IRS Impersonators

WETHERSFIELD, CT — Police are warning residents about some "aggressive and sophisticated" scams from callers and e-mails pretending they are from the federal Internal Revenue Service.

In consultation withthe IRS, Wethersfield police have issued the following warnings:

Phone Scam

Calls targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, have been making the rounds, police said.

Callers claim to be employees of the IRS, but are not, police said.

"These con artists can sound convincing when they call," police said. "They use fake names and bogus IRS identification badge numbers."

Scammers usually alter the caller ID to make it look like the IRS is calling, police said. Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be paid promptly through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer, police said.

If the "victim" refuses to cooperate, he or she is then threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver’s license, the IRS said.

"In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting. Or, victims may be told they have a refund due to try to trick them into sharing private information. If the phone isn't answered, the scammers often leave an 'urgent' callback request, the IRS said.

The IRS said the agency will never:

• Call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed an invoice.
• Demand that someone pay taxes without giving him or her the opportunity to question or appeal the amount owed.
• Require the use of a specific payment method for taxes, such as a pre-paid 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.

Fake IRS Staffers

"Aggressive and threatening phone calls by criminals impersonating IRS agents" remain a major threat to taxpayers, but now the IRS is receiving new reports of scammers calling under the guise of verifying tax return information over the phone, police said.

The latest variation has been making the rounds over the past few weeks, the IRS said.

Scammers are calling to saying they have a tax return, and they "just need to verify a few details" to process the return.

"The scam tries to get you to give up personal information such as a Social Security number or personal financial information, such as bank numbers or credit cards," police said.

According to the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, taxpayers are receiving emails that appear to be from TAP about a tax refund.

The emails are a "phishing" scam, in which unsolicited e-mails try to trick unsuspecting victims into providing personal and financial information, police said.

The IRS said do not respond or click the links in the e-mails. Ratherm forward them tophishing@irs.gov and note that it seems to be a scam email phishing for your information.

TAP is a volunteer board that advises the IRS on systemic issues affecting taxpayers. It never requests, and does not have access to, any taxpayer’s personal and financial information such as Social Security and PIN numbers or passwords and similar information for credit cards, banks or other financial institutions, the IRS said.