Officials with the Jasper Police Department would like to make citizens aware that the IRS Scam is once again making its rounds in the area.
Jasper Police report that a scammer, advising they are an IRS employee, will tell a person that they owe money and may threaten the potential victim with the notion that police have been notified and will be en route to arrest them if they don’t pay.
Scammers use sophisticated methods and may have the caller’s name, phone number, and address. Another tactic used is aggression with scam artist trying to bully their caller into a payment.
Police also pointed out that they can “spoof” or change the phone number that the call is coming in on and make it look like the number is coming from the IRS.
The Jasper Police Department are reminding citizens to never give out confidential information over the phone and that the IRS does NOT make threatening phone calls,
The IRS does not make phone calls unless they have notified a person by mail first and do not demand immediate payment via credit or debit cards. Police say do not give out your account numbers over the phone.
It is NOT necessary to contact your local law enforcement if you receive a call from the IRS scam but to instead ignore the phone call or hang up if you answer the phone.
Police say you should only contact law enforcement if you’ve actually paid money to the scammers.
