At the height of this tax season, Maine received 1,600 fraudulent income tax returns from people claiming the identity of someone else. That amounted to hundreds more fake returns in the first half of this year than in all of last year, on pace to double 2014’s number by year’s end. “As we thought, there […]
IRS
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
IRS says hackers accessed personal info for 104,000 taxpayers
Hackers gained access to personal information of 104,000 taxpayers this spring, downloading an online service the Internal Revenue Service uses to give Americans access to their past tax returns, the agency said on Tuesday. The information included several years’ worth of returns and other tax information on file with the IRS, Commissioner John Koskinen said […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Auburn detective to address U.S. Senate committee on phone scam
LEWISTON — An Auburn police detective is expected to testify Wednesday before a congressional committee about a phone scam targeting the elderly. Jason Moore, who has been with the Auburn Police Department since 1998, prepared remarks for the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, for which Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, is chairwoman. She invited Moore […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Auburn residents warned of phony IRS calls
AUBURN — A local resident was bilked out of thousands of dollars by a phone scam, police said. The victim told authorities that a male caller claiming to be an agent from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Department phoned several times. The caller claimed to be investigating an issue in which the victim owed […]
Posted inRiver Valley
Dixfield police report increase in scam calls
DIXFIELD — The Police Department responded to 31 calls for service from Feb. 23 to March 6, including some phone scams, Chief Jeff Howe said Friday morning. “We’ve been getting buried with fraudulent phone calls, ranging from IRS scams to fake winnings scams,” he said. He attributed the volume to tax return season. The IRS […]
Posted inMaine
Maine AG warns about IRS scams
AUGUSTA — Callers pretending to be from the IRS are trying to trick Mainers into sending them money, Maine Attorney General Janet Mills warned Monday. The AG’s Office and the Federal Trade Commission have gotten thousands of complaints about one kind of scammer in particular, IRS imposters. It works like this, according to the AG’s […]
Posted inRiver Valley
Rumford police: Counterfeit bills are circulating; residents beware of IRS phone scams
RUMFORD — Police are seeking help from the public following an increase of counterfeit bills being used at area businesses. Additionally, Chief Stacy Carter said Wednesday by email that a bogus Internal Revenue Service claim is making the rounds, trying to separate people from their money. “There has been an increase in the number of […]
Posted inNew England, sj-web
150 doctors targeted for tax fraud in NH, Vt.
CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen has asked the Secret Service and Internal Revenue Service to investigate reports of tax fraud affecting more than 150 doctors and health care providers in the state and in Vermont. The medical societies in both states say Social Security numbers have been stolen and used to file […]
Posted inRiver Valley
River Valley fire chiefs say federal insurance mandate doesn’t apply to their departments
RUMFORD — Chiefs of local volunteer fire departments in the River Valley region said they were either unaware of the Affordable Care Act ambiguity that affects volunteer firefighters or not concerned with it. According to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare), employers with more than 50 full-time employees (or their […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Anti-fraud hotline launched by U.S. Senate
A lonely woman meets a man online and sends him large chunks of money before realizing the fellow is not who he claims to be. An elderly man passes along financial information after a late-night caller reports that his grandson is in trouble in Canada. A widow sends money to a man who contacted her […]