The North Platte Police Department has received dozens of complaints from citizens over the past week in regards to phone scams perpetrated by individuals posing as IRS agents or other government agents.
Citizens are reporting receiving phone calls from various area codes and the individual calling states they owe money for taxes. The suspects can be aggressive over the phone and threaten to place warrants out for your arrest or threaten to come arrest you.
Often the suspects will want payment through wire transfer or prepaid credit cards. The NPPD reminds citizens 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.
- Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.
Scam artists have software that can be used to alter caller ID numbers to make it look like the IRS or another agency is calling.
If citizens receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and asking for money here is what the IRS recommends they do:
- Don’t give any information and hang up.
- Contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) website https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml or call at 800-366-4484
- Report it to the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov