Jun 5, 2015 2 min read

McMURRAY – The dreaded April 15 income tax filing deadline was nearly two months ago, but scammers posing as Internal Revenue Service agents are still active in Peters Township, Peters Township police said.

Con artists are contacting residents on the telephone and through the mail, the police said.

In the first incident, which happened Thursday, a homeowner on Stonebrook Drive in McMurray told police he received a phone call from a man identifying himself as an IRS official. The caller, who spoke heavily accented English, told the man that he had tax issues and was facing a lawsuit. The caller then attempted to get the man to tell him his Social Security number, said Chief Harry Fruecht.

In the second scam, also on Thursday, a woman who lives on Bower Hill Road in Venetia told police she received a letter purported to be from the IRS saying it was not going to accept her tax return because it was filed on a short form, Fruecht said.

“People need to be aware of these things,” said Fruecht, adding that these scams are still continuing because a number of people have filed for tax filing extensions.

According to the IRS, agency representatives will never call a person about taxes owed without first sending a bill. The agency does not require a specific payment method for taxes owed, and it won’t demand a person pay his taxes without questioning or appealing the amount owed. And if a phone is not answered, the con artists often leave an urgent call back request, something the IRS said it would not do.

“People need to use their heads,” Fruecht said.