Scam telephone calls supposedly originating from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have made their way to Claiborne and surrounding counties. The Claiborne County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) and Claiborne E-911 have been inundated with complaints in the last few days, according to the CCSO.
The two agencies received some 90 calls last week, in just the first couple of days of the widespread scam hit to this area. Worried residents, according to the CCSO, say they have been bullied by those on the other end of the scam calls.
Listed at the top of the IRS Dirty Dozen of tax season scams, these scam artists routinely threaten police arrest, deportation and license revocation. Other scam callers will convince the individual he or she has a huge refund coming to them once certain private information is given, according to the IRS website.
Although apparent by the accents that these calls are originating from another country, many calling in to complain have said their caller identification mechanisms show area codes for those calls coming from one of the 50 individual states within this country.
According to the IRS website, scammers alter ID phone numbers to make it appear that the calls are coming from the Internal Revenue Service or another legitimate governmental agency. They use fake titles and badge numbers to appear on the up-and-up, according to information on the website.
The CCSO warns anyone receiving these types of calls that the IRS never makes first contact to citizens by telephone or email. First contact by the Internal Revenue Service is done only in writing via an official letter.
The IRS will never demand immediate payment, by a specific payment method, without first allowing the taxpayer to appeal or question the amount supposedly owed. The agency will never threaten police action for nonpayment and will never require the number of a credit or debit card over the telephone, according to the IRS website.
This particular scam has been working its way across the nation. The CCSO warns not to be taken in by these types of telephone calls, no matter how convincing the person on the other end of the line may seem. Never give anyone personal information over the telephone.
Unfortunately, local agencies like the CCSO and E-911 cannot do anything about these types of phone calls. If you do receive a scam call, you are urged to report it to the Federal Trade Commission on FTC.gov under the FTC Complaint Assistant section of the website. When leaving your complaint, be sure to add “IRS telephone scam” in the notes.
You may also call the U. S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 800-366-4484.
Tax scams can occur anytime during the year and are not specific to the tax season.
In January, the IRS reported that, as of Oct. 2013, some 896,000 contacts were made from these types of scam artists. According to the IRS website, some 5,000 taxpayers have lost over $26.5 million in total in fraudulent “taxes” to this scam.
Reach Jan Runions at 423-254-5588 or on Twitter @scribeCP.
