Watch out for these scammers

There is a group of scammers impersonating the Internal Revenue Service preying on Austinites. The caller tells the victim they owe money to the IRS and will be arrested – or worse – if they don’t immediately make a payment. The Austin Police Department, after fielding several calls, issued a warning last week. In that warning, the department references a page from the IRS website that says the real IRS will never call you demanding immediate payment, nor will they threaten you with the police if you are unable to pay. APD encourages anyone contacted by these scammers to hang up immediately and call the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1-800-366-4484. The inspector general also has a form on its site where these scams can be reported.