Duluth Police Warn of Phone Scam

DULUTH - The Duluth Police Department has recently been notified by the public of a scam involving phone calls from individuals claiming to be with the IRS.

The individuals contacted are informed that they are entitled to a refund, or that they owe money that must be paid immediately.

Individuals as part of the scam attempt to obtain or verify personal or financial information from the victims over the phone.

Important things taxpayers should know is that the IRS:

• Never asks for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the telephone.

• Never insists that taxpayers use a specific payment method to pay tax obligations

• Never requests immediate payment over the telephone and will not take enforcement action immediately following a phone conversation.

• Potential phone scam victims may be told that they owe money that must be paid immediately to the IRS or they are entitled to big refunds.

Other characteristics of these scams include:

• 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 TIGTA at 1.800.366.4484.