Scammers are posing as Rhode Island tax employees and making calls appear to come from the employees' real phone numbers, the Division of Taxation warned Oct. 29.
The agency's Oct. 29 advisory says callers may repeatedly phone taxpayers or leave messages asking them to call back. A familiar caller ID does not establish that the call is genuine.
The division says it always mails written notification about a tax debt or other issue before calling. It does not accept payments by phone or request checking-account or credit-card information over the phone.
It also says the division will never request payment by gift card or wire transfer and will never make threatening, insulting, hostile or aggressive statements.
People uncertain about a call should independently dial 401-574-8829 and choose option 3, rather than use a number supplied in the message.
The division asks people to report impersonation attempts to tax.assist@tax.ri.gov or the same telephone number. If a suspicious call has been answered, its advice is to hang up, record the caller's number and preserve a screenshot when available.