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IRS scammers return

Do not give information or money over phone
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, right, accompanied by National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, announces the IRS is adopting a Taxpayer Bill of Rights during a news conference in 2014. Local residents have been getting calls in an IRS scam that tells people to pay money or the police will arrest them and put them in jail. The IRS does not make calls like that because it would violate some of the provisions in the Bill of Rights.

A phone scam threatening residents with jail time if they fail to pay the Internal Revenue Service immediately is making rounds again.

“We’ve had four clients call so far,” said Bobbie Heroy of H&R Block. “They tell them police are on the way over to arrest them if they don’t pay $7,000 right then.”

Heroy said one client in Silverton was going to sit down to write a check, when the caller told him he had to pay by credit card. When he said he didn’t have credit cards, the caller told him it needed to be cash. When he said he didn’t have that kind of cash, the caller hung up. When he tried to call back, the number was disconnected.

“One little lady called me and she said, ‘You don’t do my taxes, but I’m scared,’ because she thought there were going to be federal marshals at her door,” Heroy said. “I told her that’s a crock, and invited her to bring her records in for us to check if she’s still worried.”

People who receive these calls should never give Social Security numbers or money over the phone, Heroy said.

“Call your tax preparer and the police,” Heroy said. “The IRS will send you notifications by mail first, and they won’t call you unless you call them first and request a call at a certain time.”

abutler@durangoherald.com



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