How to avoid IRS scams ahead of tax season

This morning on KESQ News Channel 3: How to avoid IRS tax scams. We’re live from 5 to 7 a.m.

Calls, voicemails, emails and even letters. Some people in the Coachella Valley are getting nonstop calls saying they are from the IRS.

While some people may hang up or throw letters away, others have been unlucky enough to fall victim.

One priest in the Coachella Valley is sending a message to keep people suffering the same fate.

“We have hundreds, that’s not an exaggeration, that have been scammed or people who have tried to scam [them],” said Fr. Howard Lincoln of Sacred Heart Church.

Calls with a message saying a person owes back taxes or has committed tax fraud made an impact on one family.

“His instinct was to just pay the money so that nothing bad would happen. He almost did it, he almost gave them the information,” Sharon Cisneros said about her brother-in-law.

One tax preparer says those calls are not only fake but common. During tax season the scams mostly target the elderly. Howard says he gives a reminder after his sermons to prevent people for falling for the trick.

“The element of fright, of being scared. This is a call way out of the ordinary and it can really trap people,” Lincoln said.

More t his morning on KESQ News Channel 3: How to avoid IRS tax scams. We’re live from 5 to 7 a.m.