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IRS Scam Targets Horton

By Brian Hagen

08/28/2015

(KNZA)--An often attempted scam again targets the local area, with Horton area residents reporting they've been contacted by a fake IRS agent.

The Horton Police Department has issued a text alert regarding the matter, reminding anyone who receives such a phone call to simply hang up.

The scammer's apparent goal is to gain personal information, such as bank account or social security numbers, in order to rip off the would be victims.

Brown County Sheriff John Merchant says the calls are in no way related to official IRS business. "I know they're targeting a lot of folks that are older, alleging to be the IRS, stating that these people owe them money [and] if they don't get the money transferred to them within a half-an-hour to an hour, they would have authorities show up at their door and arrest them,” Merchant tells MSC News. “It's scaring quite a few people. That's not the way the IRS would do business.”

The IRS earlier this month responded to the growing number of scam calls, with the agency saying their agents will never demand immediate payment, or ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone, demand that taxes be paid without allowing time to question or appeal the amount they say you owe, or require the use of a specific payment method for taxes.

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