KETTERING -- The next time your phone rings it could cost you a whole lot of money.
A warning about an aggressive phone scam and if you pay taxes you could be a target.
The Kettering Police Department is working to warn as many people as possible about this scam, even taking their message to their Facebook page.
Bill and his wife Marynel found a strange message on their answering machine Saturday night after coming home from a baseball game.
"Saying that they were gonna take legal action if we didn't call and take care of the bill that we owed the IRS," said Bill Bradley, potential scam target.
The number on their caller ID, they didn't recognize, but it showed up as if it was coming from Washington DC.
The scammers were aggressive.
"They're threatening to put you in jail the police will be there in 20-30 minutes they're going to arrest you if you don't hurry up and give us money," said Officer Ron Roberts, Kettering Police Department.
Bill and his wife had a bad feeling about the message.
"We pretty much felt it was a scam," said Bradley.
So they contacted the police and filed a report, but they're worried others wouldn't do the same.
"Some people may get worried about that since it's just past tax time and some people may have had to file differently or do something differently," said Bradley.
So we wanted to find out what happens when you call the number left on the caller i-d.
"All circuits are busy, please try your call again later," message from the scammer's phone number.
When we typed the number into Google and search there are several web sites saying that the number is a scam.
We also contacted the Internal Revenue Service to find out if they know this is happening.
They sent a statement saying "The IRS respects taxpayers rights, and these angry, shake-down calls are not how we do business."
"The legitimacy of anybody asking for money over a telephone without further identification is where the problem lies," said Bradley.
There's also five things the IRS will never do.
They are, demand immediate payment, demand you pay without the right to appeal, require that you use a specific payment method, ask for credit information over the phone and lastly threaten to bring in local police.
If you get a call don't give them your information and call police.
A warning about an aggressive phone scam and if you pay taxes you could be a target.
The Kettering Police Department is working to warn as many people as possible about this scam, even taking their message to their Facebook page.
Bill and his wife Marynel found a strange message on their answering machine Saturday night after coming home from a baseball game.
"Saying that they were gonna take legal action if we didn't call and take care of the bill that we owed the IRS," said Bill Bradley, potential scam target.
The number on their caller ID, they didn't recognize, but it showed up as if it was coming from Washington DC.
The scammers were aggressive.
"They're threatening to put you in jail the police will be there in 20-30 minutes they're going to arrest you if you don't hurry up and give us money," said Officer Ron Roberts, Kettering Police Department.
Bill and his wife had a bad feeling about the message.
"We pretty much felt it was a scam," said Bradley.
So they contacted the police and filed a report, but they're worried others wouldn't do the same.
"Some people may get worried about that since it's just past tax time and some people may have had to file differently or do something differently," said Bradley.
So we wanted to find out what happens when you call the number left on the caller i-d.
"All circuits are busy, please try your call again later," message from the scammer's phone number.
When we typed the number into Google and search there are several web sites saying that the number is a scam.
We also contacted the Internal Revenue Service to find out if they know this is happening.
They sent a statement saying "The IRS respects taxpayers rights, and these angry, shake-down calls are not how we do business."
"The legitimacy of anybody asking for money over a telephone without further identification is where the problem lies," said Bradley.
There's also five things the IRS will never do.
They are, demand immediate payment, demand you pay without the right to appeal, require that you use a specific payment method, ask for credit information over the phone and lastly threaten to bring in local police.
If you get a call don't give them your information and call police.
