Palmer Police warn of new tax scam

The Palmer Police Department (PPD) is warning residents of a potential new scam arriving in the mail, and advising of a few indicators to help identify that it is a scam.

“This is a new scam brought to our attention. There a few indicators on this letter, which was sent to a citizen in town, such as "Matanuska Susitna County", which should lead a person down the path of suspecting a scam.”

In the warning posted to their social media page, the PPD posted a copy of the letter being sent to residents that states the recipient has a judgment that has been filed against them that may be eligible for a settlement.

The letter offers the recipient their services, however, a phone call to the number provided did not yield any results and when asked a few questions, the person on the other end of the phone disconnected.

The IRS has warned of similar Tax Lien scams involving fake property liens that threaten taxpayers with a tax bill from a fictional government agency.

There are some tips to help recognize if it is a scam or not:

First and foremost, this scheme involves a letter threatening an IRS lien or levy; the scammer mails the letter to a taxpayer; the lien or levy is based on bogus overdue taxes owed to a non-existent agency; and the non-existent agencies might have a legitimate-sounding name like the “Bureau of Tax Enforcement.” There is no such agency.

In the case of this particular scam, the Matanuska Susitna Borough name is instead referred to as Matanuska Susitna County.

This scam may also reference the IRS to confuse potential victims into thinking the letter is from a real agency.

For anyone who doesn’t owe taxes and has no reason to think they do should, please contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to report the letter. The taxpayer should use their IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting webpage. When reporting the scam, they should include the key words “IRS Lien.”

Taxpayers who do owe tax or think they might owe should review their tax account information and payment options at IRS.gov. Reviewing tax account information online will show the taxpayer if they indeed owe the IRS and how much, and is the fastest way to get this information.

The PPD advises that if residents suspect they may be a target of a scam, to do some research first.

“We did a quick Google and found several articles and bits of information about this type of scam. Please call with any questions about possible scams. We are more than happy to try to prove/disprove scams.”

For more IRS and the MSB tax information, please visit

https://www.irs.gov/.../taxpayers-should-beware-of...

https://transparency.matsugov.us/pages/yourtaxes