Tax time is prime 'phishing' season

POST FALLS — Linda Sanders came to the Post Falls Senior Center on Wednesday armed with notes.

The Post Falls woman, among about 70 people who attended a lunch in which Post Falls Police addressed scams, said she recently received a call from a "card services" company offering her five years with 0 percent interest on one of her credit cards.

"I knew not to give out personal information on the phone," said Sanders, who documented the call and which agencies she contacted afterward.

The kind voice on the other end, however, still made her interested in the proposal.

"They know how to tug at that little piece of your heart that wants to trust them," she said.

The person assured Sanders that she qualified for the appealing offer and forwarded her on to a "financial adviser."

The woman asked Sanders for her maiden name.

"That's when the bell went off," Sanders said. "I told them that I need to think it over and to call me back tomorrow."

After the phone call ended, Sanders called the Better Business Bureau and found out a scam going around years ago had come back. The scammer called Sanders back the next day, but Sanders turned the woman down — with expletives.

In hindsight, Sanders said she wishes she would have simply hung up during the first call.

Sanders said she's mystified over how and why such scams make a comeback.

"Why are people released back into society and do it again?" she asked PFPD Community Services Officer Will Long. "It seems like the penalties aren't much. If they made people serve serious jail time, maybe it would stop some of this or slow it down."

Long said there's a good chance the suspects didn't get caught in the first place. Perhaps they just stopped that particular scam and moved on to the next one or perhaps other suspects are bringing back old scams.

"The laws are there, but it's still difficult to detect who they are," Long told Sanders. "They use different phone numbers and emails and many are from overseas so we have no jurisdiction to get at them. So that's why you have to take care of yourselves and be careful."

It's tax season, so one of the most common scams police are hearing about is "robocalls" purportedly from the IRS telling residents they are either being sued or a problem has been found with their taxes so personal information is needed.

Post Falls Police Capt. Greg McLean said his agency has received as many as six complaints per day during recent days on the IRS scam.

Long said IRS scams are "prolific" this time of year and they seem to get worse every year.

"If you have a tax issue with the IRS, you likely already know about it and you have an accountant who can help you," Long said. "Get a professional and do not talk to a stranger on the phone about your information."

Long said, in many cases, scammers have just enough of your personal information to make the call sound convincing. Such scams are referred to as "phishing."

"They're very insistent and good about extracting information from you," he said. "If you get a call from the IRS, I encourage you to hang up and contact the IRS independently so you initiate the contact."

Phishing scams can also be carried out via email or websites. Some inquiries try to convince you that there's a privacy issue with your computer to get information out of you.

Post Falls' Jennifer Parzanici said she received an IRS call on Tuesday from a recorded message stating there's a lawsuit against her. A number was left for her to call back.

"I did not call the number and I knew that the IRS wouldn't call you, so I called the IRS and told them what's up," she said. "The IRS checked my record and didn't see a problem, but they gave me an Attorney General's number to report it."

McLean said PFPD received a complaint on Wednesday that a man identifying himself as a relative — and even using the relative's name — called needing money wired because he was in jail.

McLean said while some people would be able to recognize the relative's voice, the callers say they are sick to disguise their voice or, in many cases, seniors and others who haven't seen or spoken to that relative for some time may not be really familiar with the voice.

Another common scam are calls notifying you that you have won a free vacation or reward and to pay a small fee to collect your prize.

"If you've won something then you shouldn't have to pay for it," a PFPD flier states.

One of the most common fundraiser telephone scams involves people pretending to collect money for police and fire departments. Before giving out personal information or thinking about making a donation, ask for the caller's information, details of the charity and call that department directly to see if they are really using callers to raise money.

Along with being vigilant about not giving out personal information, Long said another way to keep scams at bay is to request a free copy of your credit report from the TransUnion, Experian and Equifax credit companies.

"Stagger them over the year, so you're constantly checking (to see if anyone else has your information)," he said.

Long also said to take a close look at credit card and debit card bills to make sure you are the one who made all of the purchases.

One man said a red flag appeared when he saw a 75-cent purchase at Lowe's that he didn't make.

Sanders has a suggestion for scammers.

"If you're so smart and brilliant, why don't you get a real job?" she said.