It has been brought to our attention that recently many individuals have received phone calls claiming to be IRS representatives that are actually a scam. In these situations the caller claims that the individual or a family member owes money. Individuals are threatened with arrest, foreclosure or termination of services and are asked to make a payment to avoid the aforementioned consequences. Please be aware that actual federal employees of the IRS will NEVER ask for credit card payment over the phone, pre-paid debit, or a wire transfer.

The scam callers often go to great lengths to make the call seem legitimate. Some characteristics of these calls include use of fake names and IRS badge numbers, reciting the last four digits of the individuals social security number, making the IRS toll free number appear on caller ID, sending fake follow up emails, background noise of other “calls,” and fake follow up calls from the local police or DMV upon refusal of payment.

Unfortunately, the IRS scam is not the only scam phone call out there. It is important to be cautious. We advise telling the phone representative you will call them back on the number you have on file. For example, if you receive a phone call from your bank, end the phone call and call them back on the number you have for your bank.

The above information about the IRS scam was obtained from the Nassau County Police Department.