Lakeport >> Tax season may be over, but authorities warn that frauds continue.
A woman reported being scammed for $4,000 on Tuesday by a suspect who called her claiming to be a federal Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent and threatened criminal charges if she did not pay immediately, according to Chief Brad Rasmussen of the Lakeport Police Department (LPD). The suspect then contacted the woman again on Wednesday and said that the tax bill was more than the original $4,000 and demanded additional money. The victim instead called law enforcement.
An officer, posing as a family member of the victim, contacted the suspect in an attempt to gain information but was ultimately unable to develop any usable leads, Rasmussen stated. “This aggressive scam using the IRS name has been occurring in our community over the past six months,” Rasmussen stated. “Unfortunately, we do not expect the scam to end even though the tax filing date was (April 15).”
Late Thursday afternoon, the LPD received another report from a resident who was contacted by another person claiming to be an IRS agent. No money was lost in the incident, according to Rasmussen.
“The most important information to be aware of is that the IRS does not contact persons by telephone or email regarding tax issues but rather only use official United States mail,” He stated. “The scammers are using untraceable ghost telephone numbers and email addresses set up to look like official IRS contacts.”
Scam characteristics include:
• The use of fake names and IRS badge numbers. Scammers generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
• They 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.
• Sometimes scammers 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.
People should not believe any of it as the IRS does not conduct business this way.
More information can be found on IRS websites: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Warns-of-Pervasive-Telephone-Scam and http://www.irs.gov/uac/Report-Phishing.
