Full Notification

Once again, New Castle Police Department has been receiving an increase of reports of attempted telephone scams involving the Internal Revenue Service.  During the last 24 hours many New Castle residents reported getting calls from an individual identifying himself/herself as an agent of the IRS and that the resident owed back taxes.  The caller states that if the taxes are not paid immediately by phone or wire they or their spouse will be arrested within the next few hours.

According to the IRS “The IRS reminds people that they can know pretty easily when a supposed IRS caller is a fake. Here are five things the scammers often do but the IRS will not do. Any one of these five things is a tell-tale sign of a scam. The IRS will never:

1. Call you about taxes you owe without first mailing you an official notice.
2. Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.
3. Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.
4. Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
5. Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.”

If you receive one of these calls, hang up the phone.  You may report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) at 1.800.366.4484 or at www.tigta.gov.  For further information on this scam go to http://www.irs.gov/uac/Tax-Scams-Consumer-Alerts

Other scams involve a ruse that an attorney or law enforcement officer is calling to report a relative has been arrested in a distant city and you must pay bail right now or the relative will go to jail.  If you get such a call, police recommend that you hang up on the caller.  If you are concerned that the call could be real, get contact information without releasing any of your personal information and call the police.  We can help you to contact any legitimate law enforcement agency in the world.  Remember, no law enforcement officer would ever call you with a demand for money.

The FBI has advice on avoiding telephone fraud scams.  You may find the information at this web site:   http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/fraud/fraud#telmkt