IRS phone scam ravaging La Crosse

Police say IRS would never call, always comes in mail

Apparently, it’s the La Crosse area’s turn to get hammered by an IRS phone scam.

Both La Crosse and Onalaska police departments are warning about a rash of scamming phone calls.

It’s the classic fictitious IRS agent claiming that you owe money in back taxes and demanding immediate payment. Some are even robo-calls. 

Police say that’s something a real IRS agent would never do. First correspondence from the IRS or the Wisconsin Department of Revenue always comes in the mail. 

Police say the scammers use a lot of personal information to con victims into giving up banking info and passwords. 

If you get a call like that, police say the best choice is to hang up, find the publicly listed phone number of whatever agency claiming to have called you and call them back to verify the request. 

And never give out any personal or banking information over the phone to unsolicited callers.