UK Chief Information Security Officer Warns Against Tax Scam

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 5, 2015) — In the midst of another tax scam via telephone, University of Kentucky Chief Information Security Officer Michael Carr is urging members of the UK community to take steps to protect themselves.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced last week that complaints to the FTC about Internal Revenue Service (IRS) imposter scams have increased over the last year by almost 50,000 complaints.

According to the scam alert on the FTC website, scammers are contacting individuals pretending to be IRS officials collecting taxes, saying that if the taxes aren't paid now, individuals could face deportation, arrest or loss of driver's license.

FTC cautioned that the IRS will not contact taxpayers by phone or email, and will not require a specific type of payment, such as asking them to pay with a prepaid debit card or money transfer.

If you receive a suspicious call, follow these steps provided by the FTC:

1.    Do not give the caller your information, such as personal or financial information.

2.    Write down the phone number and name of the caller.

3.    Hang up.

4.    Contact the IRS directly.

5.    File a complaint with the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the FTC.

6.    Finally, tell others to watch out for any scam phone calls.  

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Harder, 859-323-2396, whitney.harder@uky.edu