Phone scam with callers impersonating IRS workers crops up in Clallam County
Published 12:01 am Monday, November 10, 2014
PORT ANGELES — The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office has received multiple reports of a telephone scam in which callers claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service demand money.
Chief Criminal Deputy Ron Cameron said the Sheriff’s Office has received multiple reports of the scam from residents countywide.
“It started in the last 24 hours or so,” Cameron said at about 5 p.m. today (Monday).
“It’s widespread.”
Federal Trade Commission officials have said IRS impersonators were threatening to arrest or deport people, revoke a license or close a business if they don’t pay back taxes.
“It may be new to us, but it’s not new to them,” Cameron said.
The scammers reportedly rig caller IDs to make it appear as through the IRS is calling.
“Lots of people wrote to tell us about variations of the scam: robocalls from ‘Heather’ from the IRS, or calls claiming to be from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and mentioning IRS codes,” Federal Trade Commission Consumer Education Specialist Amy Hebert wrote in a May 29 news release that the Sheriff’s Office forwarded today.
“But the scam always ends the same way: a demand for money loaded on a prepaid debit card, sent through a wire transfer or paid by credit card.”
The news release went on to say the IRS doesn’t ask people to pay with prepaid debit cards or wire transfers, nor does it ask for credit card numbers over the phone.
The agency uses the mail to contact people regarding unpaid taxes.
People receiving calls as part of this scam are encouraged to hang up the phone and not press any number before doing so, as this can lead to more robocalls.
To report the IRS phone scam, contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at www.tinyurl.com/PDNIRS or 800-366-4484.
