Con artists are busy in Havre again

Havre police say people are getting phone calls from people claiming to be from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

They tell the victims they have a tax warrant filed against they.

The scammers tell people they will be arrested unless they pay an amount to them via a wire transfer or a pre-loaded debit card.

People are told they will have their assets seized unless they comply with the demand.

“This is a scam and should be disregarded as a legitimate call from the IRS,” said Assistant Police Chief Jason Barkus.

IRS officials assured Havre police that they never used any of the tactics that are being employed by the scammers.

People will always receive a mailed bill before they receive a call from the IRS. People always have the right to appeal an IRS decision. and IRS officials never demand that people provide them with pre-loaded debit card or insist that people provide debit or credit card numbers.

IRS officials said they never threaten to arrest people or summon police if people refuse to pay.

The Havre Police Department cautions people about providing personal information or authorizing payments over the phone.

If the phone call is suspicious, they advise, people should hang up. They can then call the IRS back using a verified phone number to determine if IRS officials were actually trying to call them.