Think twice if you get a phone call from ‘the IRS’

When he got the message on his voice mail, Patrick McElligott was skeptical.

The recording, which was in broken English, didn’t sound that legitimate. Still, the voice insisted that McElligott owed $6,521 to the IRS, and that if he didn’t pay, he’d be “taken under custody by local cops.”

He called the number that was left with the message and tried to gather as much information as he could. But in the end, he realized, his instinct was correct. McElligott, a commercial airline pilot, had been the target of a common phone scam that is increasingly targeting Wichita residents.

“I just want people to be aware because some people might not know this ahead of time and they may actually tender payment to these people,” he said.

The IRS scam is indeed becoming more common in Wichita, said Sgt. Santiago Hungria, with the Wichita Police Department’s financial crimes division. And to avoid falling victim, people need to know what to listen for.

Typically, the caller will insist that the person owns money to the IRS and that it’s imperative that the fee be paid immediately to avoid prosecution, he said. The caller will suggest various payment methods that can be obtained and sent quickly.

“A lot of these calls are very intimidating,” he said. “The person is very demanding on the phone.”

A person who receives such a call shouldn’t panic, Santiago said. Instead, they should hang up and call the local IRS office themselves to see if the call is legitimate.

I know it’s pretty frustrating to the citizen that they’re having to deal with something like this,” he said. “That’s why we really stress education and prevention.”

Denise Groene, who is the state director of the Better Business Bureau of Kansas, suggests one step further.

She said that people should ignore calls from numbers they don’t recognize, especially out-of-town numbers, and just let them go to voice mail.

Don’t call the person back. Instead, she said, report the call to the police.

“If you get a phone call prior to receiving a letter, that would be an indication you are dealing with a scammer,” she said.

Ultimately, McElligott said, he was tipped off by the caller demanding his name, address and phone number.

Something about that didn’t sound right.

“I figured if this is really the IRS, they’d already have this information,” he said.

This story was originally published August 8, 2017 at 11:50 AM with the headline "Think twice if you get a phone call from ‘the IRS’."