Tue, 03/17/2015 – 18:10 Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith would like to advise residents that several recent complaints have been received by his office from residents who have received telephone calls that have targeted them in an IRS scam.
In each case, callers falsely claim to be employees of the IRS. The callers usually know basic information about their targets, such as names and addresses, and claim that money is owed. Attempts are made by the callers to have payments made promptly using prepaid deb!;t cards or wire transfers.
The IRS notes on their government website that they will never threaten to use local police or other law enforcement agencies to arrest people for non-payment. The IRS website further states that they will never require a person to use a specific payment method for taxes, such as a credit card.
Concerned residents can contact the IRS or go to the IRS.gov website for further information on the scams.
In addition to the recent phone scams, the sheriff would like to advise of an email targeting area residents in recent days. This email “phishing” scam appears to be from the IRS, but it is not. The scam email states that the subject will be “exempt” and needs to “re-certify” their tax exempt status by completing “form W-8BEN”. The scam email mentions the website irs@usa.com. These e-mails are not from the IRS.
Anyone receiving these emails can forward them to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.
Please be advised that the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by e-mail to request personal financial information. For further information, see the www.IRS.govwebsite.
