Sheriff's Office Warns Residents of IRS Scam

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The Cherokee Sheriff’s Office is informing citizens about a scam involving the Internal Revenue Service reported to them by would-be victims.

The agency said it’s responded to a number of recent reports in which citizens have told officers that someone claiming to be from the IRS calls and advises them that the federal agency is filing a lawsuit against them.

“Often a message has been left on the person’s answering machine,” the sheriff’s office said Monday. “This is a scam. Do not respond to the caller and under no circumstances should you give them any personal information.”

The IRS always sends taxpayers written notification of any money due to the government using the United States Postal Service. Additionally, the IRS never asks for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the telephone.

For more information or to report a scam, go to www.irs.gov and type “scam” in the search box.

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:

• If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue, if there really is such an issue.
• If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, you’ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1-800-366-4484.
• 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.

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