From the Lacey Police Department: While telephone and computer scams, both national and international and of all types, have become a daily occurrence and are only limited by the level of creativity and deceptive of the scammer, there appears to be a heightened level of the IRS telephone scam being attempted today.

Residents should be aware that this scam involves an attempt by the caller to sound very official and authoritative in telling the potential victim that the caller is operating under the authority of the IRS. “False threats are made stating that the potential victim will be arrested if he or she does not forward an immediate payment.

Any legitimate concern with the IRS would involve a lengthy process of official notifications with some degree of due process over time. Residents are asked to not entertain these callers and simply hang up. A vast majority of the scam calls are coming from locations in other countries and unfortunately continue because victims do, in too many cases, forward payments in the false belief the call may be legitimate. Unfortunately, over the past three years there have been several cases investigated to no successful conclusion involving the loss of tens of thousands of dollars to scammers.

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