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Attorney General Mike DeWine
Ohioans
Continue to Report Tax Scams as Filing Deadline Approaches
(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today warned
consumers to avoid "IRS imposter scams" as the April 18 tax-filing
deadline approaches.
The Ohio Attorney General's Office has received over 400 reports of the
scam in April.
The ploy generally begins with a call claiming to come from the IRS or
U.S. Treasury. The consumer is told to call a certain phone number and
eventually asked to provide money or personal information to avoid
arrest or legal action.
“One of the best things you can do if you get one of these scam calls
is to hang up,” Attorney General DeWine said. “The real IRS won’t
demand that you pay right away over the phone or refuse to provide
written information.”
Tips to avoid IRS phone scams include:
Don’t trust threatening callers. If you receive an unexpected phone
call from someone who threatens to arrest you for not paying taxes, be
very skeptical, especially if you never received any written notice.
Avoid making payments over the phone. Don’t trust someone who demands
that you pay immediately over the phone using a prepaid card or by
sending a wire transfer. These are preferred payment methods for scam
artists, because the money is hard to recover once it’s sent. The real
IRS won’t demand that you pay over the phone using one of these
specific methods.
Don’t respond to illegal robocalls in any way. Don’t interact with the
caller, and don’t call a number left on your phone or in a message.
Responding to a scam call can result in even more calls because it lets
con artists know that your phone number belongs to a real person.
Don’t always trust caller ID. Scammers may “spoof” a phone number,
making the number on your caller ID appear to be from the IRS, even
when it’s not. They may make it look like the call is originating from
a 202 (Washington D.C.) area code to appear more legitimate.
Check into call-blocking options. Check with your phone carrier and
third-party services to determine whether call-blocking services could
help you stop unwanted calls.
IRS or U.S. Treasury impersonation scams can be reported to the U.S.
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at
www.treasury.gov/tigta or 800-366-4484. Consumers also can contact the
Ohio Attorney General’s Office at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov or
800-282-0515 for help detecting a scam.
Video of Attorney General DeWine discussing phone scams is available
online or by emailingkate.hanson@ohioattorneygeneral.gov. Audio of a
reported "IRS" scam call is available on the Ohio Attorney General's
website.
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