Terri Sanginiti

The News Journal

To protect taxpayers from a pervasive telephone scam that won’t seem to go away, the Internal Revenue Service has issued some tips about unsolicited callers telling people they owe the IRS money.

This week, a 37-year-old Middletown man was scammed out of $1,000 by a caller pretending to be a special agent from the IRS claiming the man owed back taxes and had to make a payment to avoid arrest.

Middletown police Lt. Michael Kelley said the victim sought the help of police after he had sent the fake agent two $500 prepaid Visa debit cards.

The victim was prompted to report the incident to police when the alleged IRS agent called back a second time demanding he be paid more money, Kelley said.

Because of the number of these reported incidents are on the rise across the county, IRS officials Friday issued another consumer alert warning the public about them.

“These telephone scams are being seen in every part of the country, and we urge people not to be deceived by these threatening phone calls,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “The IRS respects taxpayers’ rights and these angry shake-down calls are not how we do business.”

The way this scam works is that the victim receives a call from con-artist purporting to be an IRS special agent who says he has taxes due that he must pay to avoid arrest, Or, the agent claims the victim has a refund due and attempts to trick the victim into parting with personal information.

Kelley said the Middletown man was able to provide police with the telephone number the fake agent called from, which Kelley said was worthless.

“The victim a lot of times will say, ‘I have the phone number,’ but that’s a Magic Jack that could be pinged off of anywhere,” he said.

Here are five tips from IRS to differentiate between these scammers tactics and what is not standard protocol for the IRS:

• The IRS does not call you about taxes you without first mailing you an official notice.

• The IRS does not demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.

• The IRS does not require you to use a specific method of payment to pay your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.

• The IRS doesn’t ask for your credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

• The IRS doesn’t threaten to bring in local police or other law enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.

Kelley said anyone who receives such a telephone solicitation should not provide any financial information or payment to the caller without first checking the validity with the IRS.

The IRS does not use email, text messages or any social media to discuss your person tax issue.

If you know you don’t owe taxes and have no reason to believe that you do, report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1(800)366-4484 or online at: www.tigta.gov.

Contact Terri Sanginiti at (302) 324-2771 or tsanginiti@delawareonline.com