GREENSBORO, N.C. — Don’t be fooled. There are notices being mailed out that look like your typical tax-issue letter. They include a seal of some sort here, a headline warning you of the tax issue, and the amount due in bold. The notice talks about how the state of North Carolina can now take action against you. It certainly gets your attention.
It got the attention of a Greensboro woman and she called the local Better Business Bureau office.
“It looked really, really official. It had the tear-off strips, it was official-looking unless you really knew about tax liability, I would think that it was real,” said Kay Thornton.
Thankfully, she knew it was a fake. Take a look at the two letters side by side. They look similar. The fake notice has only one misspelling, so it’s not like normal fake letters, emails, or texts.
On both, there is a number to call for more information.
If you're in a panic about owing so much money, and someone answers with the words, Tax Office, you could really be fooled.
“I called the number on there and they said, We can be employed to reduce that tax bill for you, that's what we do,” said Thornton.
2WTK called the number on the letter too, they told me they are private tax attorneys that help people, but they wouldn't give me their company name or any other real information.
(Sidenote: you don’t need a third party to help you with a tax-notice issue)
Anytime you get something that requires an immediate response, whether it's your taxes, your Amazon account, or your credit card that has been compromised, stop. Take a minute and go to the source. Look up the number for the company, the business, and the agency, and call them directly.