Public Safety
IRS Logo 03-19-17

Income Tax-Related Identity Theft Scams Down But Not Out: How to Protect Yourself

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The good news is that ID theft scams are less prevalent than they were in previous years. The bad news is that there’s plenty still around. Both the Internal Revenue Service and Better Business Bureau have (overlapping) advice about protecting yourself from scammers who want your personal information for identity theft and tax fraud. “Everyone should guard their personal information by protecting their computers and using extreme caution when viewing emails or getting surprise phone calls,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said. “We also encourage people to share this information with their friends and family,” he said.

Public Safety
Police

Elderly Woman Loses $1,000 to Thief in IRS Phone Scam

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A 74-year-old woman who works in Darien got a phone call from a man pretending to be an IRS agent, and within hours $1,000 was taken from her. The case involves a common telephone scam in which the caller is told to immediately pay money through a wire transfer or gift card or some dire result will take place — in this case, that she would be arrested for lack of a tax payment claimed by the scammer. Elderly people tend to be victimized by the scam more than others. Darien police gave this account of the matter:

The woman, a New Haven resident who works at a house in Darien, had received a voice mail message about a month before from a “Paul Brown” who identified himself as an Internal Revenue Service official. He claimed in the voice mail that the victim owed the government money and he told her to call 509-592-9796.