Practice what I Preach

Well here we are almost half way thru the month of January. I am sorry that I didn’t do a recap of things we learned about last year, but, I feel the urgency to tell you about things emerging this year that you need to be aware of. It is tax time, and if you are going to be scammed, now is the time of the year more than any other time of the year these things will happen.
You have friends, family and coworkers who may call you every day, but, there are some people that will NEVER call you for any reason. The first group of these people is the IRS. They are a patient bunch of individuals, who feel if they need to contact you, they will send you a letter, several letters, indicating YOU must call them. But for some strange reason, most of you who know this still fall prey to this scam.
The IRS reminds people that they can know pretty easily when a supposed IRS caller is a fake. Here are five things the scammers often do but the IRS will not do. Any one of these five things is a tell-tale sign of a scam.
The IRS will never:
• Call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.
• Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.
• Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.
• Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
• Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.
If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and asking for money, here’s what you should do:
• If you know you owe taxes or think you might owe, call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040. The IRS workers can help you with a payment issue.
• If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to believe that you do, report the incident to the TIGTA at 1-800-366-4484 or at www.tigta.gov.
• If you’ve been targeted by this scam, also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov. Please add & quote IRS Telephone Scam & quote to the comments of your complaint.
The second group of individuals is Microsoft. A Microsoft tech support is calling you. They’ve been notified that your computer is sending out “error” messages, or you have some other vague technical problem that “needs to be fixed immediately.” They’ll even walk you through the process to fix it—how helpful! Not really. Microsoft does not do cold calls, nor will they call to advise you about your PC online.
The reason for this topic is that tax time is just around the bend, and just like you, I will be using a PC to do my taxes. All of that critical data is kept on your PC. Losing your PC, or losing the data on your pc, neither is a good thing, so why let a stupid phone call destroy your life, when all you have to do is hang up. I would like to say thanks for reading all of my article’s this past year. I have enjoyed the compliments and suggestions on future subjects. I look forward to sharing Tech news with you this year. Thanks for reading, and keep your PC secure and your family safer. Remember at “Hunt Technology”, you always get “Quality Service & Individual Attention” you deserve.
Hunt Technology, 320 Watson St., Ripon WI, 920-290-0936