{"id":69911,"date":"2016-06-16T11:02:39","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T15:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=69911"},"modified":"2016-06-15T15:06:53","modified_gmt":"2016-06-15T19:06:53","slug":"hanna-the-irs-will-never-call-you-but-criminals-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=69911","title":{"rendered":"Hanna: The IRS Will Never Call You, But Criminals Will"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?attachment_id=69912\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-69912\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-69912 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/scam.png\" alt=\"scam\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/scam.png 300w, https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/scam-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>Residents should be on high alert for tax scams, callers pretending to be the IRS<\/em><\/p>\n<p>U.S. Representative Richard Hanna is reminding people to beware of phone calls and emails from individuals claiming to represent the Internal Revenue Service in an effort to defraud them.<\/p>\n<p>Hanna has received numerous reports of local residents receiving unwanted calls from individuals claiming to represent the IRS. He said taxpayers need to remain vigilant against tax scams all year round; not just during tax season. Recently, the most common forms of tax scams are phone calls and emails from thieves pretending to be from the IRS.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe best way to protect yourself from becoming a victim is to hang up the phone,\u201d Hanna <!--more-->said. \u201cThe IRS willnever call you, but criminals will.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Hanna\u2019s office has received an increase in reports about these scams and the callers are very aggressive; below are some tips the IRS released to identify these scams and what to do if you believe you are the target of a scam.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>THE REAL IRS WILL NOT<\/u><\/strong><strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Initiate contact with you by phone, email, text or social media to ask for your personal or financial information.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Call you and demand immediate payment. The IRS will not call about taxes you owe without first mailing you a bill.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Require that you pay your taxes a certain way. For example, telling you to pay with a prepaid debit card.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cWhat people need to remember is: never give out any personal information over the phone,\u201d Hanna said. \u201cBe wary of unsolicited telephone calls, especially callers who are aggressive and relentless. These criminals often prey on older people, so pass the word along to elderly neighbors, friends and family. Let\u2019s do all we can to prevent this scam from spreading further and hurting more hardworking Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>IF YOU DON\u2019T OWE TAXES:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Use TIGTA\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.treasury.gov\/tigta\/contact_report_scam.shtml\">\u201cIRS Impersonation Scam Reporting\u201d<\/a> web page to report the incident.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>You should also report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Use the \u201cFTC Complaint Assistant\u201d on<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/\">www.FTC.gov<\/a> and add &#8220;IRS Telephone Scam&#8221; to the comments of your report.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><u>IF YOU THINK YOU<\/u><\/strong><u> <strong>MAY<\/strong> <strong>OWE TAXES:<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ask for a call back number and an employee badge number. Call the IRS at <a href=\"tel:800-829-1040\">800-829-1040<\/a> and IRS employees will be able to help you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you receive an unsolicited email claiming to be from the IRS it may be a phishing scam. They often use fake refunds, phony tax bills, or threats of an audit. Some emails link to sham websites that appear real. These criminals seek to lure victims into providing personal and financial information.<\/p>\n<p>This information can be used to steal a victim\u2019s money and their identity.<\/p>\n<p>If you receive one of these \u201cphishing\u201d emails don\u2019t reply to the message or give out your personal or financial information. Don\u2019t open any attachments or click on any links. Forward the email to <a href=\"http:\/\/phishing@irs.gov\/\">phishing@irs.gov<\/a> to alert them of the scam.<\/p>\n<p>Read more about tax scams on the genuine IRS website at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.irs.gov\/\">www.irs.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Residents should be on high alert for tax scams, callers pretending to be the IRS U.S. Representative Richard Hanna is reminding people to beware of phone calls and emails from individuals claiming to represent the Internal Revenue Service in an effort to defraud them. Hanna has received numerous reports of local residents receiving unwanted calls [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23811,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/69912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}