IRS Scam Hitting Stafford Residents: Police

STAFFORD, VA—If it's tax season, it's time for the IRS phone scam—or some other iteration of crooks posing as representatives of the government revenue agency. And after receiving several reports from residents about having been victimized by the scam, the Stafford County Sheriff's Office wants the public to be on guard against such shenanigans.

Police say the biggest warning sign should be if someone is contacted by phone or by mail by a person or entity claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service. From there, the person often is told he's behind in his taxes, didn't pay enough, is being investigated and so on. They're instructed to buys things such as pre-paid money cards and provide the information.

Police urge residents to contact them if they believe something's amiss. Also, the Federal Trade Commission website has a lot of information about identity theft and what to do about it.

Meanwhile, here are some tips from the IRS:

• 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.
• 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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