CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake Police Department is alerting the community to an identity theft and financial scam that’s been reported by community members.

Det. Ryan Peterson said citizens have received phone calls from subjects claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service, Department of Treasury and the Clearlake Police Department.

The subjects claim to be agents for these departments. The people who receive phone calls from these subjects are told to provide credit card and bank information or wire money to fraudulent accounts by electronic means like PayPal or Moneygram, Peterson said.

Peterson said the subjects threaten to arrest the people they call if they do not comply. The phone number on the caller ID during these phone calls has shown to be 800 numbers and have even shown to be the Clearlake Police Department’s phone number of 707-994-8251.

There is software the scammers have developed and use to show fraudulent phone numbers on caller IDs of people they call, Peterson said.

Peterson said the Clearlake Police Department is not the agent for any financial or tax agency, including the IRS and State Franchise Tax board. “We also do not ask for citizens to pay fines over the phone or by electronic means.”

The Clearlake Police Department is advising citizens to never provide personal information, credit card numbers or bank information to subjects over the phone, email or any other electronic means that you did not call.

If someone does call you over the phone, hang up and contact the place they are saying they represent with a number you obtain from a reputable source and not one given to you by the caller or email, Peterson said.

He said this time of year it is common for scammers to attempt to obtain information from people using the ruse of tax issues due to the tax season.

For more information on identity theft you can contact the Clearlake Police Department at 14050 Olympic Drive, Clearlake, or call 707-994-8251.

You can also review the Federal Trade Commission Web site on identity theft at www.usa.gov/identity-theft.