Full Notification

The Albany police have received reports of a phone scam in which the caller claims to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

In reported cases, the caller has been calling residents and leaving the following phone message:

"Hello we have been trying to reach you. This call is officially a final notice from IRS Internal Revenue Service. The reason of this call is to inform you that the IRS is filing a lawsuit against you to get more information about this case file. Please call immediately on our department number 202-239-7350. I repeat 202-239-7350. Thank you."

The phone message is a scam in attempt for the victim to call phone scammer back and provide personal and financial information.

The Albany Police Department would like to remind the members of our community to be vigilant against phone scams and urges them to never give out personal or financial information to unverified persons.

The IRS also provided the following information and safety tips regarding this scam:

It is important for residents to know that the IRS:

· Never asks for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the telephone.
· Never insists that taxpayers use a specific payment method to pay tax obligations
· Never requests immediate payment over the telephone and will not take enforcement action immediately following a phone conversation. Taxpayers usually receive prior notification of IRS enforcement action involving IRS tax liens or levies.
Potential phone scam victims may be told that they owe money that must be paid immediately to the IRS or they are entitled to big refunds. When unsuccessful the first time, sometimes phone scammers call back trying a new strategy.
Other characteristics of these scams include:

· Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
· Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security number.
· Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling.
· Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.
· Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.
· After threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.
If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:

· If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. 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 as described above), then call and report the incident to TIGTA at 1.800.366.4484.