Morongo Basin residents have recently been receiving fraudulent phone calls from someone who claims to be from the Internal Revenue Service. Reporter Andrew Dieleman warns residents to not fall for these scammers who say you owe money…
With tax season fast approaching, federal officials are warning about scammers posing as IRS agents. The caller says he or she is from the IRS and that you owe taxes. They say that, if you don’t pay up immediately, the IRS is going to file a lawsuit against you or will send the police to your home to arrest you. Don’t fall for this increasingly common phone scam. It is important to know that the IRS never makes its first contact with you via the telephone, fax, or e-mail and they will never demand payment immediately.
If you have any questions about the legitimacy of a communication from “the IRS,” contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 800-366-4484 or go to
https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report.shtml
For cases of identity theft involving state taxes, contact the California Franchise Board at 916-845-3669 or go to https://www.ftb.ca.gov/online/Fraud_Referral/index.shtml?WT.mc_id=Featured_Report_Fraud
