Feb 5, 2016 2 min read

State police issued a warning Friday to alert residents to a telephone scam.

Several residents told police they received phone calls from a person claiming to be with the Internal Revenue Service.

The caller tells the resident he or she owes the IRS money, state trooper Stefani Lucas said.

“We realize a call like this, or from any business claiming you owe money, can be alarming,” Lucas said.

However, a person should never provide personal information over the phone, she said.

“If someone calls from an organization asking for payment or claiming you owe them money, do not give out your personal information,” Lucas said. “Ask them to send you documentation, and if they are legitimate, they will already have your contact information.”

The IRS will never call a person demanding payment, Lucas said. If a person does owe taxes, he will receive a bill in the mail.

The IRS also will never demand a person pay taxes without question or without being afforded an appeal on the amount owed. It will never require taxes be paid in a certain manner as, for example, by a credit or prepaid debit card.

The IRS also will never ask a person for a credit or debit card number over the phone or threaten to call police or another agency to have a person arrested for not paying.

Anyone who has a question for the IRS or any business making claims regarding payments should look up a phone number for the agency or business and call them directly, Lucas said. People should not use telephone numbers provided by the caller or links provided in emails. Those numbers and links can be a part of the scam too, she said.

Those who think someone is trying to scam them should report the call to the state Attorney General’s Office.

Anyone who has given money or information to a scammer should immediately contact a local law enforcement agency, Lucas said.

A similar scam was reported in June in Waynesburg and surrounding areas.

Waynesburg police said then in a one-week period they received four reports from residents who said they were contacted by someone posing as the IRS asking them to send money because of mistakes on their taxes.

The caller also threatened to sue or garnish the wages of the residents if they failed to comply with their demands, police said.