Beware of Scammers Using “Pastor’s” Communications
Just a reminder during a season when scammers are everywhere that Pastor Wayne Zschech NEVER uses email or text messages to request financial assistance from members for those who are in need. Beware of any emails or text messages claiming to be Pastor Wayne asking if you can purchase gift cards or “do him a favor” but insist you not call as he is “busy and cannot talk right now.” If you are in any doubt contact Pastor Wayne either by his email on this Messenger or church bulletin or call on his cell phone if you have it.
The IRS and the Treasury Department DO NOT Call, Text, or Email Taxpayers Who Owe Money, EVER!
It’s tax season! After a year of hard work, it’s time to make sure the Treasury Department receives their cut in taxes. Some of us overpaid and get money back, some of us underpaid and need to write a check to make up the shortage ☹. It’s hard to know where we stand until we do the official return and even after the return is completed, we’re not exactly sure if the IRS won’t come knocking. I mean there are 4 million pages of IRS tax law and code; maybe we missed something and made a mistake that will cost us money.
Here is the sweet spot where the scammers live. The fear of the IRS is real, and there are people out there who will use our fear to grab as much personal information as they can. Social security numbers and birth dates are their first prize.
Once they have that information, there are all sorts of bad things they can do with it. They can open credit cards in your name, access existing bank accounts, file false returns to gain unreal refunds, and effectively steal your identity. Instant money is their 2nd prize. Getting your information isn’t enough, if they can keep you on the phone, they’ll tell you anything they can think of to scare you into sending them money. These are bad, evil people.
So how can you tell the scammers from the real IRS agent. Great News! The IRS will NEVER, EVER call, text, or email you!!! The IRS has one form of communication for people who owe money: regular mail. I’m not kidding; the IRS doesn’t have the money, time, or resources to communicate any other way. If you owe them money, they’ll send out a CP2000 letter in the regular mail and then wait for you to call them. After many, many letters if a taxpayer doesn’t pay what they owe, the IRS doesn’t need to call you to collect the money. Remember, they are the treasury department, they can garnish wages or levy a bank account and take what they need. Please don’t stress about this possibility. It takes a lot of letters from the IRS. That’s a whole other fear and a whole different article.
Bottomline for this article, THE IRS WILL NOT CALL, TEXT, OR EMAIL YOU TO COLLECT TAXES OWED. IF SOMEONE DOES CALL YOU SAYING THEY ARE THE IRS, HANG UP ON THEM. DON’T PLAY WITH THEM. DON’T GIVE THEM ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION. PRETEND THE PHONE IS LAVA, HANG UP FAST, AND THEN BLOCK THAT NUMBER.
If you want more information about all the different tax scams you can read more at:
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-scamsconsumer-alerts
-Christopher LaBelle, Enrolled Agent Tax Preparer
