Podcasts

Carter Johnson

Carter Johnson P.I.O with Albemarle Police discusses with Les Sinclair a couple of scams that are in the area.

Characteristics of this scam include:
• Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names
and surnames to identify themselves.
• Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security number.
• Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS
calling.
• Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus
calls.
• Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.
• After threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up
and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID
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
1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue, if there
really is such an issue.
• If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for
example, you’ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described
above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax
Administration at 1.800.366.4484.

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