The department has been receiving a significant amount of calls from citizens advising that they are being contacted by persons claiming to be with the IRS.
Citizens are informed that they owe back taxes and that there will be a warrant issued for their arrest if taxes are not paid. If the citizen in anyway acts as though they do not believe it, then they receive a second call from subject claiming to be from the Paris Police Department. Usually they claim to be a Deputy and give a false name. (deputy Brown form Paris PD) They inform the person that if money isn’t paid they will come and arrest them.
Chief Hundley states, “We received another complaint about this scam call just this morning. Caller advised me that this time when they “Deputy” called him that the caller ID showed 903-784-6688. It appears that they are using a ‘spoofing’ technology to make their phone number show up as the departments. The caller today was familiar with the Police Department and knew that we do not have deputies and hung up on the caller and called us. But he was concerned for other citizens who might not know and give these subjects money.”
Chief Hundley adds, “If there is any problem with the IRS, the person will be contacted first by mail. We assure you, there is no Paris Police officer coming for you for not paying your taxes, that is a federal concern. Can you be arrested for federal tax evasion?, yep. That is a federal crime and will not be enforced by local authorities.”