SHALIMAR — The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office is investigating an IRS phone scam case.
A 54-year-old Mary Esther woman was victimized by a common scam involving someone claiming to represent the IRS. She said she got a call on her cell phone Sept. 18 from a person saying he was with the IRS and that there was a warrant for her arrest for tax evasion.
She was told if she hung up she would be arrested within 45 minutes. The woman was instructed to go to stores and purchase Visa Prepaid or Green Dot cards for more than $15,000. She did as was told and provided the card information to the scammers.
The Federal Trade Commission offers the following information to protect you from imposters who call, claiming to be the IRS:
1. Don’t provide any account or other personal information. Hang up the phone.
2. Never wire money to a person or company you don’t know. Once you wire money, you can’t get it back.
3. If you owe — or think you owe — federal taxes, call the IRS at 800-829-1040. IRS workers can help you with your payment questions. You also can visit the IRS website.
4. If you’ve already paid your taxes, call and report the incident to the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration office at 800-366-4484.
5. Forward emails from IRS imposters to phishing@irs.gov. Don’t open any attachments or click on any links in those emails.
6. File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov/complaint. Include the words “IRS Telephone Scam" in your complaint.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Mary Esther resident falls victim to IRS prepaid card scam