IRS Scams: Vienna Alerts Residents 'Don't Fall for It'

VIENNA, VA -- The Vienna Police Department wants residents to be alert for tax scams during tax season.

The police department says that often during tax season, residents report calls from individuals claiming to be IRS employees and threatening arrest if those called don't send a Western Union payment or use a credit card or prepaid debit card to settle an issue related to tax fraud or an improperly filed return, the Town of Vienna noted on its Facebook page last week.

"This is a scam; do not send payments or provide personal data to individuals who contact you by phone no matter how authoritative the caller may sound or even if they can recite the last four numbers of your social security number," the Town warns. Generally, the first IRS contact regarding a tax issue is via mail, the Town notes.

If you receive such a call, the IRS recommends:

• If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 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 about jail or deportation), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 800-366-4484.
• You can file a complaint using the FTC Complaint Assistant (http://1.usa.gov/254N8tR); choose “Other” and then “Imposter Scams.” If the complaint involves someone impersonating the IRS, include the words “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes.

Here's a video from the IRS about scammers: