JPD warns of IRS scam as more people fall victim
JACKSON, Tenn. — A renewed warning by the Jackson Police Department, Friday, as the department said it’s received several reports of an IRS scam with several people falling victim.
Investigators say in each case, a person calls the victim and identifies themselves as being with the Internal Revenue Service. The caller tells the person they’re late paying their federal income taxes. They then tell the victim they’re going to one of two things: They’re sending law enforcement to arrest them if they don’t pay up immediately or they’re filing a lawsuit in court to get the money that’s due.
Police warn, these calls are all fraudulent and are not from the IRS. The IRS does not contact people in this way. Instead the federal agency would send numerous letters before ever trying to contact you by phone. The IRS also does not request that you put money on a green dot credit card or other similar types of payments.
“Most of these are being conducted overseas where the United States does not have any jurisdiction,” said Lt. Jeff Shepard. “It’s very difficult to try to get any kind of prosecution going or any kind of civil suit in order to get your money back.”
Investigators say even if your caller ID shows a call from the IRS, the scammer is using technology to “spoof” their phone numbers to appear to be calling from the United States.
The Jackson Police Department encourages anyone who receives a phone call from someone demanding money from the IRS to simply hang up the phone.
If you are actually in debt to the IRS, contact the IRS directly. The telephone number to contact the local IRS center is (731) 423-2441.
Anyone with information about this case, or any other crime is encouraged to contact the Jackson Police Department at 731-425-8400 or Crime Stoppers at 731-424-8477 or by visiting www.jmcrimestoppers.org to place a cyber tip.
