Every day it seems someone is trying to separate people from their hard earned money through some sort of scam.
While they typically follow the same pattern, scammers are getting more creative with their attempts to have you willingly give up your money.
The Picayune Police Department recently reported through their social media feeds that the IRS scam is still circulating within Pearl River County.
Residents are being warned to avoid any calls coming in from the number 202-697-9915.
Some red flags for any type of call you suspect of being a scam include the caller threatening to send an officer to your home to arrest you if you don’t pay them at that moment.
Obviously any real IRS employee will never threaten such an act.
Variations of this scam include emails being sent to tax professionals, according to www.irs.gov. Such emails will ask for updated information to be submitted via a link, which looks just like the page a tax preparer would use to log in to the IRS’ eservice portal. At that point, the scammer tries to get the login and password of the tax professional.
One of the ways to spot a scam is if the caller or person contacting you through email demands payment promptly, through a prepaid debit card or through a money order.
Additionally, if the person contacting you becomes rude or hostile, hang up the phone.
According to the IRS’ website, a member of their staff never calls first, they always send a letter in the mail. They also never demand payment without first providing an appeal first.
If anyone calls you first and asks for your personal information, don’t give it to them. The only time you should provide any personal information is if you are calling an agency through a trusted number, such as a phone company, and even then they typically only ask for the last four digits or your social security number or a pre-determined password.