Bowie County Sheriff's Office warns citizens about an old scam that has resurfaced during tax season.
"A local resident has informed the BCSO that they received a telephone call from a person who was pretending to work for the Internal Revenue Service," said Chief Deputy Jeff Neal, BCSO spokesman. "The unknown caller told the person that if they did not pay the taxes they owed, local law enforcement would be sent out to arrest them."
Neal said this is the same nationwide scam that has been reported for the past several years in the area, primarily around income tax season. This year the calls are showing up as coming from phone number 206-201-2540.
"BCSO reminds you to never give out personal or payment information over the telephone to anyone you do not know or did not initiate contact with," Neal said.
The IRS website source, irs.gov/uac/Tax-Scams-Consumer-Alerts, states that the IRS will never call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed 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; or threaten to bring in local police or other law enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.
If you have received a call from someone impersonating an IRS agent demanding immediate payment over the phone, the United States Treasury asks that you report the telephone call on their website at treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml.