Tax filing season began Tuesday, with a warning from the
Collier County Sheriff’s Office about an Internal Revenue Service telephone scam
targeting taxpayers.
Callers claim to be employees of the IRS, but are not. They
sound convincing when they call. They use fake names and bogus IRS
identification badge numbers, and they usually alter the caller ID to make it
appear that it’s the IRS calling.
Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be
paid promptly through a preloaded debit card or wire transfer. If the victim
refuses to cooperate, they are then threatened with arrest, deportation or
suspension of a business or driver’s license. The caller may become hostile or
insulting.
CCSO reminds people that the IRS will never:
* call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call
about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill;
* demand that you pay taxes without giving you the
opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe;
* require you to use a specific payment method for your
taxes, such as a prepaid debit card;
* ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone;
* or threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement
groups to have you arrested for not paying.
If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from
the IRS, the IRS advises you to make a report to the Treasury Inspector General
for Tax Administration at https://www.treasury.gov/tigta
CCSO advises
taxpayers to file taxes as soon as possible, before a criminal does. This is
the No. 1 way identity is stolen, accounting for 31 percent of all ID theft
complaints. The filing deadline this year is April 18.
