Law enforcement officials are seeing a rash of increasingly sophisticated scams across Pennsylvania, and are warning the public to take extra precautions.
According to the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, new variations of a common scam involving phony Internal Revenue Service agents have become increasingly common across the state.
New versions of the ruse involve scammers using emails designed to look like official IRS documents and technology that displays false caller ID information. By tricking people into thinking an email or call is coming directly from the IRS, scammers are able to coerce payments for fictional taxes out of taxpayers.
These scams may also involve “robocalls” with prerecorded messages demanding payment for fictional back taxes while threatening immediate arrest or other legal consequences.
The Attorney General also warns Pennsylvanians that scammers may be able to obtain personally identifiable information, such as the last four digits of a social security number, through data leaks or hacks. These compromised information will then be used to make a scammer appear to be a legitimate IRS agent.
However, the IRS will always make initial contact with a taxpayer through the mail, and will not threaten arrest if payment isn’t made immediately. Legitimate IRS agents will also always give taxpayers the chance to appeal or question the amount they supposedly owe, the Attorney General says.
State College police have also warned residents about similar scams in the past, and continue to regularly receive reports about attempted phone scams from residents. Police say that scammers tend to focus on elderly and international residents out of a belief they will be easier to convince.
Any time you receive a call where the person on the other end claims to be an authority figure and demands some kind of immediate payment through pre-paid debit cards, State College police warn the call is a scam.
In addition to IRS scams, State College police have also recently seen another twist on the classic phone scams. Officers have received at least one report earlier this month in which a local man received a call from someone claiming to be a representative of a personal loan agency.
The scammer claimed that the man had taken out a fictitious loan for $600, and that he now needed to pay $1,000 immediately. Police say legitimate organizations will not demand immediate payment, ask for personally identifiable information or threaten you with immediate arrest.
State College police also warn against scams in which scammers will pretend to be a relative in trouble and in need of money, often supposedly calling from jail in need of bail money. Other variations of this scam may involve a second person pretending to be a lawyer.
The Attorney General and State College police warn residents to never give out sensitive information over the phone, to always demand official proof of any claim of debt, and to hang up and call the agency directly if in doubt.
The Office of the Attorney General encourages anyone who may have been contacted by scammers to call the Bureau of Consumer Protection at 1-800-441-2555.
