The IRS has received 500,000 complaints about tax scams in just the last year. At a US Senate hearing in March, the deputy inspector general said about 4,000 people have collectively lost $20 million. He added that the scams are an effective and fast way to steal the taxpayers’ money. A typical scam begins with a phone call in which the victims are told they owe money to the IRS that must be paid immediately or they will be arrested. Managing editor Tami Roleff gives kudos to a Twentynine Palms bank manager who prevented a local woman from falling prey to the scam…
Tuesday afternoon, a 68-year-old Twentynine Palms woman went to the US Bank on Adobe Road in Twentynine Palms to withdraw $15,000 to pay back taxes owed to the IRS. Bank Manager Bob Clinkscales told the woman that it was a scam, but when she didn’t believe him, he called the Sheriff’s Department to send a deputy to try to convince her that she was being victimized. The woman said she had received a phone message saying she owed the money to pay back fees. Deputy Dennis Tollefson managed to persuade the woman not to send any money. Kudos to bank manager Bob Clinkscales and Deputy Dennis Tollefson for going above and beyond to prevent a customer from falling prey to this scam.
BANK MANAGER, DEPUTY, SAVE VICTIM FROM IRS SCAM
