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Tyler Cooper, 26, of 117 Evansville St., reported a suspected IRS scam to officers of the Bellefontaine Police Department shortly before 10 p.m. Thursday.
He called police after becoming suspicious of a phone call received about 5 p.m. from an individual that “sounded foreign” and claimed to be an IRS agent. The suspected scammer threatened an arrest warrant against Cooper for allegedly having failed to comply with IRS requirements.
Cooper then provided the caller with a full name, address birth date and Social Security number. The suspicious telephone number was (219) 512-9200, police report.
Cooper late contacted the IRS office directly and confirmed he was actually in compliance.
The IRS will never contact taxpayers by telephone demanding payment without having first submitted a bill; it would never ask for a credit or debit card information over the phone; and the IRS would never threaten to contact local authorities and threaten to have an individual arrested for having not paid, according to the official government Web site, irs.gov.
“These telephone scams are being seen in every part of the country, and we urge people not to be deceived by these threatening phone calls,” according to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
“We have formal processes in place for people with tax issues. The IRS respects taxpayer rights, and these angry, shake-down calls are not how we do business.”