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Sheriff warns of IRS phone scam

The Henderson County Sheriff's Office is warning Henderson County residents of a current scam involvoing calls from people purporting to be from the Internal Revenue Service. Henderson County Sheriff Charles McDonald is urging residents not to respond or give any information to these callers.

In its own release, the IRS said it had received more than 90,000 calls about this scam. The Henderson County Sheriff's Office has had complaints about calls made by aggressive call solicitors, emails and automated phone messages. Listed below are some tips from the IRS in case you are contacted by a caller, email or automated phone message:

· The IRS will first contact you by mail if you owe taxes, not by phone.
· The IRS never asks for credit, debit or prepaid card information over the phone.
· The IRS never insists that you use a specific payment method to pay your tax.
· The IRS never requests immediate payment over the telephone.
· The IRS will always treat you professionally and courteously.
Scammers may tell would-be victims that they owe money and that they must pay what they owe immediately. They may also tell them that they are entitled to a large refund. Other characteristics of these scams include:
· Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers to identify themselves.
· Scammers may know the last four digits of your Social Security number.
· Scammers spoof caller ID to make the phone number appear as if the IRS is calling.
· Scammers may send bogus IRS emails to victims to support their bogus calls.
· Victims hear background noise of other calls to mimic a call site.
· After threatening victims with jail time or driver's license revocation, scammers hang up. Others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and caller ID again 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 800-829-1040. IRS employees can help you with a payment issue if you owe taxes.
· If you know you don't owe taxes or don't think that you owe any taxes, then call and report the incident to TIGTA at 800-366-4484.
· If scammers have tried this scam on you, you should also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their "FTC Complaint Assistant" at FTC.gov. Please add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments of your complaint.