Police Department and IRS warning of tax scams

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Tax season is here and that means scammers are ramping up efforts aimed at deceiving folks in our community.

“During tax season we see an uptick in people reporting income tax or IRS state tax commission scams,” says Twin Falls Lieutenant Chuck Garner.

According to Garner, the Twin Falls Police Department receives about a dozen reports regarding scams every year during tax season, mainly through email or text messages. The police department is warning the community now so that people won’t be tricked by scammers.

“These scams are traditionally hard for us to reach the source of, but please report them to us or even your suspicions. one we can verify if those suspicions are correct and two, we can reach out to the community to let them know what’s going on and educate them on what to look out for,” says Garner.

The Internal Revenue Service says they will never send an email or text, threaten legal action, or ask for credit or debit information by phone.

“Rule of thumb, generally if there’s an issue with your taxes, you’ll get a paper notice or a letter in the us mail. now it’s possible to get a call from the IRS but that would only normally happen after several mailed or paper attempts have gone unanswered,” says IRS Media Relations, Jeanne Rohrer.

Rohrer also says that they will never threaten to call law enforcement or immigration officials. They also don’t leave pre-recorded voicemails. If you are contacted by someone claiming to be the IRS, it’s easy to verify through their website.

“If the IRS is indeed trying to get a hold of you, you’ll find out right there on the website, you’ll find out why and you’ll be able to get any answers to your questions,” says Rohrer.

The IRS also warns taxpayers to look out for any odd or misspelled web links that can take you to harmful websites. If you did fall victim to any of these scams, the Twin Falls Police says to still report it to them.

“We will certainly investigate it and if its prosecutable then that’s something we will pursue,” say Garner.

For more information on how to avoid tax scam, visit here: Recognize tax scams and fraud | Internal Revenue Service

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