IRS Scams Ramping Up In Morris County, Police Say

PARSIPPANY, NJ — As tax season gets under way, so do scams targeting filers. Morris County has seen a spike in IRS related scams, the Parsippany police department said, and here's how you can avoid falling for them.

"Over the last few weeks the IRS phone scam calls have increased and we hope by providing the information below that we can prevent someone from losing any money. Please share this post and talk to your family and friends who are not on social media," police said in a Facebook post detailing the scams. "I have already received two voicemails threatening to have me 'taken under custody by the local cops' on '4 serious charges.'"

The scammers will call you claiming to be from the IRS, immigration, or other government organizations, saying you owe them money. This will always be a scam, police said (the IRS will send a letter if you owe money).

"Even if the caller ID shows a legitimate government organization it can be a scam because modern technology lets criminals spoof, which means fake the name and number, which makes them appear legitimate," police said.

Here are some tips to avoid falling for the scam, as written by police:

• Whenever you get this type of call and you think it may be legitimate please search the internet for the phone number to the supposed agency that is calling you and call it back to inquire about the legitimacy. Do not believe the number they are giving you to call back.
• You can also try doing a search of the phone number they are calling from on the internet and see if it is associated to scams. This method is not fool proof since they can fake the legitimate number to come up on caller ID as I said earlier.
• Never give personal information to anyone even if they request it.
• Never wire money, purchase visa gift cards, or money cards like Green Dot and give them the information. Once they have the wire information, gift card numbers, or Green Dot information they will get the money and you will not get it back.

If you believe you have fallen victim to a scam, contact your local police department.

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