BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
Idahoans are asked to be on the lookout for a tax scam disguised as a mailer ad.
According to a press release from the office of Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, the mailer is an advertisement for private tax attorneys attempting to drum up business and is made to look like an official government mailer.
Ada County officials alerted Wasden’s office to the scam on Thursday, according to the release. The letters say they are from the made-up “Ada County Tax Processing Unit” and are sent via U.S. Mail from Sacramento, California. They do not include a specific return address and feature a seal with an eagle.
Per the release, the mailer said that the recipient owes unpaid taxes and that a lien will be put on their property until the tax debt is paid. Wasden said it seems the company mined publicly available tax records to get information about individuals’ tax deficiencies.
“This is clearly a company doing business in the shadows and trying to scare Idahoans into working with them,” Wasden said. “I strongly recommend anyone who receives this mailer to throw it in the trash. Any company that tries to generate business by tricking potential customers is clearly one to avoid. If you’re behind on your taxes, there are legitimate companies out there that don’t operate in such an underhanded way.”
Wasden and the Idaho State Tax Commission issued an alert for a similar scam in January.
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
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