Aggressive and threatening phone calls by people impersonating IRS agents remains an ongoing threat to South Carolina taxpayers.
Aiken resident Richard Procter said he has received three calls from scammers claiming to be the IRS in the past two months. He said the most recent call happened Tuesday.
"The scammers would call me claiming that I owed them over $3,000," Procter said. "They would say they were preparing an arrest warrant if I didn't prepare a money order to send to them."
Aiken Department of Public Safety Lt. Karl Odenthal said complaints about these calls regarding IRS scams happen regularly.
The scams are frequent enough for the department to advertise awareness against these scams at least once a year, Odenthal said.
"The IRS is not going to call you to get your money," Odenthal said. "That's not the way they work."
Procter said he likes to play around with the scammers when they call. He said that he likes to stay on the phone with them, pretending to listen and frustrating the caller before telling them off.
"This scam has hit taxpayers in nearly every state in the country. We want to educate taxpayers so they can help protect themselves," said IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel. "Rest assured, we do not and will not ask for credit card numbers over the phone, nor request a prepaid debit card or wire transfer.
"If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and threatens police arrest, deportation or license revocation if you don't pay immediately, that is a sign that it really isn't the IRS calling."
Taxpayers should be aware that there are other unrelated scams (such as a lottery sweepstakes) and solicitations (such as debt relief) that fraudulently claim to be from the IRS, according to the IRS website, www.irs.gov.
Victims of these scammers should report them by calling Aiken Department of Public Safety at 803-642-7620.
Tripp Girardeau is a crime beat reporter for the Aiken Standard.