The Marion Police Department says numerous residents and people in area towns have received calls from people claiming to be from the IRS. The callers say an individual owes money and must pay now. When unsuccessful the first time, sometimes phone scammers call back trying a new strategy.

The IRS has issued a warning against consumers who are targeted by these aggressive phone scams and says the crime is on the rise nationwide. If someone does owe the IRS money, they will receive a written notification via the U.S. mail. The IRS never asks for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the telephone. For more information or to report a scam, go to www.irs.gov and type "scam" in the search box.

Other characteristics of this scam include using fake names and IRS badge numbers, reciting the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security number, spoofing the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling, sending bogus IRS emails to support their calls, pretending to be local police or department of motor vehicle employees after a victim hangs up on a call.

The IRS will never call or email and ask for PINs, passwords or similar confidential access information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts. Recipients should not open any attachments or click on any links contained in the message. Instead, forward the email to phishing@irs.gov.

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, and you know or think you may owe taxes, call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040. Report an incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1-800-366-4484 and contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov. Add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments of the complaint.