Several local residents have received phone calls in recent weeks from an individual claiming to have a warrant for their arrest.
The Senatobia Police Department is warning people not to fall for the scam and not to send money.
“If we have a warrant, we will come to your house,” said Chief Richard Chandler. “SPD will never call a person about a warrant.”
Chandler said callers are “spoofing” the Senatobia Police Department’s telephone number to make the call seem legitimate. The scammer then asks the recipient to send money in order to clear the warrant.
SPD took a report Sunday, Feb. 21, from a citizen who received a suspicious phone call from someone claiming to be a Senatobia police officer. The caller also gave a fake badge number.
“This sounds like the same fraudulent calls our neighboring counties experienced a couple of months ago. Do not give them any information. Just hang up,” Chandler explained.
The deadline to file taxes is April 15 and officials with the Internal Revenue Service and Mississippi Department of Revenue are urging everyone to be alert for scammers.
Callers will claim to be employees of the IRS or MDOR, but are not. They sound convincing when they call and use fake names and bogus identification numbers. They may know a lot about their targets, and they usually alter the caller ID to make it difficult to know where the number originated.
Victims are told they owe money to and it must be paid promptly through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. If the victim refuses to cooperate, they are then threatened with arrest or suspension of a business or driver’s license. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting.
Or, victims may be told they have a refund due to try to trick them into sharing private information.
Here are some things the Mississippi Department of Revenue will never do:
• Call you to demand immediate payment. They will not call about taxes you owe without first mailing you an assessment notice. The MDOR may call to let you know that a return or payment is overdue, but they will instruct you to make a payment in your usual manner. A MDOR employee will be able to reference the Letter ID number found in the upper left hand corner of the assessment notice.
• Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the chance to question or appeal the amount the caller says you owe. With all MDOR assessments, you have the right to appeal within a certain time frame. The appeal process is explained on every assessment notice sent to the taxpayer.
• Require you to use a prepaid debit card as your payment method. The MDOR allows many different methods of payment and does not require any specific one.
• Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone. If you pay by credit or debit card, you are the only one who enters card information. The MDOR policy is for employees to never ask for someone’s number or touch their card.
If a MDOR employee visits your place of business or your home, they do have the means for you to swipe your card or enter your number to pay a balance due, but swiping the card or entering the card number will never be done by an MDOR employee.
