Courtesy Oneida County Sheriff’s Office

The Oneida County Sheriff’s Office has received numerous complaints from citizens today who have been targeted by automated fraudulent telephone calls reported to be from the Internal Revenue Service.  The Internal Revenue Service does not contact citizens in this way.  If you receive one of these calls, do not return the call.  If you receive a phone call from someone identifying themselves as an employee of the Internal Revenue Service, do not provide them with any personal identifying information.

The Internal Revenue Service has outlined this elaborate scam on their website.  The caller may be able to provide the last four digits of your social security number.  They may threaten immediate arrest if you do not provide them with payment.  The phone number may appear on the caller identification to be coming from the Internal Revenue Service.  You may receive an email in conjunction with the phone call.   They may hang up and then call back identifying themselves as the local police or Department of Motor Vehicles.  The Internal Revenue Service will not contact you by phone if you owe taxes.  They will not ask you for bank account information or passwords.

These scams are very elaborate involving phone numbers that have been altered making it impossible for local law enforcement to resolve cases where personal information has been divulged.  Citizens must be alert and protect themselves by not providing any personal information.  If you want more information about the current Internal Revenue Service scams occurring or information about how to report these incidents, you can go to https://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Warns-of-Pervasive-Telephone-Scam.