Delaware County Sheriff Thomas Mills reminds residents to be aware of and to protect themselves from the increasing number of IRS scams that have been reported recently. The scams, which can occur over the phone, in e-mails or through letters with authentic looking letterhead, try to trick taxpayers into providing personal and financial information or may involve intimidation tactics that are designed to coerce victims into making false tax payments that are collected by the scammer.

If you receive such a call and have caller ID on your phone, write down and save the phone number that is displayed on your caller ID. The Internal Revenue Service has recommended that victims report these calls to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, (800) 366-4484. Have the caller ID that was displayed on your phone ready when you call to report these scams.

If you owe taxes or think you might owe, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS workers can help you with a payment issue.  If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to believe that you do, report the incident as mentioned above.

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