Letters have been sent to tax payers across Pennsylvania claiming to be from the “Tax Processing Center.”
It threatens to sieze your property, and tells you to immediately call and 800 number and pay up.
“It’s something designed to try to put someone in a sense of fear, so they’ll act quickly and lose some of their hard earned money,” Jeffery Johnson, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue said.
Johnson says these types of scams are common at the beginning of tax season.
“That’s a prime time for scam artists and criminals to try to trick taxpayers into surrendering their hard earned money.”
Johnson says the Department of Revenue would never use the type of threatening language found in those letters. Another scam seen around tax season are “phishing” schemes, where fake emails or malicious files are used to access someone’s usernames or passwords, which can then be used to steal their money, identity, or both.
“You can’t be too cautious in this day and age. You really have to just watch out for yourself,” Johnson said.
To avoid falling victim, you should closely examine any notices or messages you recieve, avoid clicking on unusual attachments or links, and never respond to requests for unusual payment methods such as gift cards.
“Certainly give us a call if there’s any question about the legitimacy of something that you receive in the mail,” Johnson said.
If you think you may have fallen victim to one of these scams, you can contact the Department of Revenue’s “Fraud Detection and Analysis Unit.”