Carolyn Stogner said she was suspicious when she received a phone call from someone claiming to be with the Internal Revenue Service, threatening to sue her if she did not pay a large sum of money immediately.

The phone call came last week from an unknown number.

“A foreign-speaking man said my daughter owed taxes and there was a lawsuit against her name,” said Stogner of Sulphur. “He went through this long explanation that she owed taxes from 2008 to 2012.”

The caller said he had repeatedly sent a certified letter to her house.

“Sure enough, he was able to state my correct address, but we had not received a certified letter from the IRS,” she said.

He then asked if she wanted “to settle out of court” for $983 that could only be paid by using a voucher or Green Dot money card.

Scenarios like this are almost always scams, said Carmen Million, head of the local Better Business Bureau.

“A large number of consumers are being contacted and being told the caller is from the IRS,” Million said. “We want the public to know that the IRS will not call you to collect a debt.”

If the IRS is going to contact you they are going to send something in writing saying you owe the debt.

“The IRS will not threaten to throw you in jail, which is what these people are telling consumers,” she said.

“Basically, what they are working on is the fear factor. They are using a well-known name like the IRS and calling from a foreign country to get money out of consumers. Don’t let fear guide you in giving up your hard-earned money.”(MGNonline)