Full Notification

Over the past several months, SMPD has received numerous reports of phone scams involving aggressive callers posing as members of the IRS requesting payment for alleged back taxes. For your information, the IRS never requests payment over the phone. All notifications for taxes owed are made via written notification from the Internal Revenue Service.

The majority of these scams, if not all, involve subjects calling from outside of the area and, often times, outside of the state. In order to ensure these scams are appropriately investigated thus increasing the likelihood of the responsible suspects being located and prosecuted, the Inspector General of the U.S. Treasury Department has set up an online reporting system. This is for reports of all phone scams whereby callers pose as representatives of the I.R.S.

In cooperation with the I.R.S. and in order to create a centralized reporting system for these incidents, the San Mateo Police Department will no longer take reports of these phone scams unless extenuating circumstances dictate otherwise. Instead, you will be referred to the I.R.S. so that your report is handled appropriately and becomes part of our collaborative investigative efforts with the Internal Revenue Service. Anyone wishing to report such a scam may use the link below.

http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml


The IRS has also sent a warning about these phone scams to taxpayers. For more information, please refer to the San Mateo Police Department’s Community Blog at http://sanmateopd.org where you will find a comprehensive guide to these and other similar phone scams.

Thank you for your attention to this minor change in our reporting system. The San Mateo Police Department is dedicated to providing the best service possible to our community and as your police department, we believe this new system of reporting these incidents directly to the I.R.S. provides the most effective means of addressing this ongoing pattern of criminal behavior, while still serving our community to the highest standard of both customer service and professionalism.

BE OUR EYES AND EARS
As always, we count on our community members to be SMPD’s “extra eyes and ears.” Please report ANY suspicious activity to SMPD right away via 911, or 650-522-7700. For information related to any ongoing SMPD investigation, call the Detective Bureau at 650-522-7650. You may also contact us anonymously by voicemail 650-522-7676 or text message 650-262-3473.

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH -- WORK AS A TEAM AND PROTECT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
Please help us make your neighborhood safer and take a stand against crime. Please report all criminal behavior, join a neighborhood watch program, and help anyone that might fall victim to a crime. If a Neighborhood Watch doesn’t exist on your block, you can start one with help from SMPD. For additional information about the City of San Mateo Neighborhood Watch Program, call SMPD Community Services at (650)522-7626 or visit our web www.cityofsanmateo.org.

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