Melrose Police Warn of Scams, Hoaxes

Melrose Police are warning residents of several IRS phone scams that have been reported in recent days. It's an especially dangerous time for these hoaxes during tax season.

One recent incident saw a resident receive a pre-recorded call from an "IRS agent" saying the woman had a warrant out for her arrest. The caller left a callback number and urged the resident to call to resolve the matter.

Another popular scam, police say, it when an "agent" tells someone there is a lawsuit against them and suggests the person call a number to settle.

Other hoaxes involved people being told they must owe money they pay through a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer. The caller is often hostile in an attempt to intimidate.

“The IRS will always contact you by mail first,” Melrose Police Chief Michael Lyle said. “If you receive one of these bogus calls, immediately hang up. Do not call the number they give you and do not give out any personal information no matter how convincing the person seems. This is a scam”

Police mentioned some other characteristics of scams:

• Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
• Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security Number.
• Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling.
• Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.
• Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.
• After threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.

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.
• If you’ve been targeted by this scam, you should also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov. Please add “IRS Telephone Scam” to the comments of your complaint.