Sheriff’s Office Summary for Village January 9 -15, 2015

Deputies responded to 61 Calls for Service in Manchester Village:

• Deputies responded to NO alarms.
• NO vehicle crashes occurred.
• Deputies responded to 1 request for Medical Assistance in the Village.
• Deputies sought Ordinance compliance from Village residents in 29 locations.
• A Suspicious van was reported having circled the 400Blk of W. Main St. several times overnight and loitering in the same area. The incident was reported the following day.
• Deputies responded to an injured deer that had taken shelter next to a house in the 500Blk of W. Main St. The Deputy was unable to safely euthanize the deer and it was able to exit the garage and leave the area on its own.
• A Fraud was reported in the 600Blk of City Rd. The victim reported that their credit card had been fraudulently been used out of town. The incident remains under investigation.

Message from Sherrif’s Department:

The 2015 Tax Return Season is upon us: BEWARE of IRS Scams, Phishing, ID theft! Residents of Washtenaw County are already reporting phone scams and identity thefts relating to their tax returns. Please review the information below provided by the IRS and Federal Trade Commission:

The Internal Revenue Service today warned consumers about a sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, throughout the country. Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be paid promptly through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. If the victim refuses to cooperate, they are then threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver’s license. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting.

“This scam has hit taxpayers in nearly every state in the country. We want to educate taxpayers so they can help protect themselves. Rest assured, we do not and will not ask for credit card numbers over the phone, nor request a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer,” says IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel. “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.” Werfel noted that the first IRS contact with taxpayers on a tax issue is likely to occur via mail

Other characteristics of this scam include:

•Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
•Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security Number.
•Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling.
•Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.
•Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.
•After threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:

•If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue – if there really is such an issue.
•If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, you’ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484.
•You can file a complaint using the FTC Complaint Assistant; choose “Other” and then “Imposter Scams.” If the complaint involves someone impersonating the IRS, include the words “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes.

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.

The IRS encourages taxpayers to be vigilant against phone and email scams that use the IRS as a lure. The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information. This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels. The IRS also does not ask for PINs, passwords or similar confidential access information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts. Recipients should not open any attachments or click on any links contained in the message. Instead, forward the e-mail to phishing@irs.gov.

The IRS and FTC request your assistance in reporting scams and phishing by using this website.

In addition, make sure that you secure your W2 and other tax related documents as they provide all the information needed by a criminal to file a tax return in your name and collect the return.

For full details, view this message on the web.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.