New Castle Police Report Rise In Fake IRS, Magistrate Calls

NEW CASTLE, N. Y. -- New Castle police are warning residents not to fall victim to the IRS and/or federal magistrate telephone scam after noticing an increase in scam reports to police.

New Castle police are warning residents not to fall for fake IRS calls.
Photo Credit: *Brian Marschhauser / File*

Amy Maciaszek

02/12/2016 12:15 p.m.

Police said they've noticed a marked increase the last few days in reports of people getting calls from the IRS or someone claiming to be a federal magistrate, and demanding immediate payment of back taxes.

In all of the cases, the caller threatens the victim or the victim's spouse with jail time if taxes aren't paid immediately, police said.

So police are reminding residents that there are five tips for determining if the call is a scam. If the caller does any one of these things, it is fake:

Call about taxes without mailing a notice first;
Demand immediate payment without appeal;
Require use of a specific payment method, such as a prepaid debit card;
Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone;
Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups.

Police said anyone who gets a call like this should immediately hang up. You can report the incident to the U.S. Treasury inspector general for tax administration at (800)-366-4484 or at www.tigta.gov.

For more information about this scam, visit the IRS website. Also, the FBI some general advice about telephone fraud on their website.

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