Once again an old scam is visiting Wayne County. The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office states that they have received several reports of residents being contacted by someone that claims he/she works for the Internal Revenue Service. The caller then claims that the victim owes back taxes and if it is not paid immediately they will be arrested or possibly sued. The caller tries to persuade the victim to either charge the money to a debit card or credit card or to wire the money to a certain address. There are a few other versions of the scam but all of them are trying to use fear to persuade the victim to send money.
The Sheriff‘s office warns residence to never give out any type of financial information, (credit card, debit card or banking information) to any unknown person over the phone. If you owe the IRS or the Department of Revenue or any other organization, any money they would contact you first by mail or in person. They would not be arresting you for a debt. The IRS would only criminally charge someone if they broke a law. If you talk to anyone in person be sure to check their credentials and if necessary attempt to verify the credentials by contacting whoever they claim to be representing.
People are also still being contacted telling them that they won a large amount of money or a car but need to pay taxes or service charges before they will receive the prize. Always remember, you didn’t win anything if you did not enter a contest and if it is too good to be true it usually is!
