MONTICELLO, NY — With tax season in full swing, Sheriff Mike Schiff is warning county residents of a continuing telephone scam. Citizens across Sullivan County have received phone calls from scammers pretending to be IRS agents. The callers are aggressive and threaten to arrest their victims in order to get them to make a payment on a non-existent tax bill. The callers sometimes “spoof” the telephone number of the sheriff’s office or other law enforcement agency, which appears on the victim’s caller ID.

They then threaten to have the sheriff or the police arrest the victim if they don’t pay up. The scammers typically have the victims send the money via the Green Dot pre-paid money card system. According to an internal U.S. Treasury report, it is believed that roughly 896,000 contacts have been made using this scam since 2013. The IRS is aware of over 5,000 victims who have collectively paid over $26.5 million as a result.

“The IRS will never threaten to send the police to your house to collect taxes,” said Schiff. “They will certainly not require you to use a specific payment method like a pre-paid debit card either.”

The sheriff asks that if you get a call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, do not give out any information and hang up immediately. If you have any questions about taxes that you may owe, you can always contact the IRS at 800/829-1040.