Scammers pretending to be from the Internal Revenue Service have called Iowans in an attempt to gather personal information.

One Mahaska County resident called the Herald and said someone from the phone number (800) 698-5898 had called her saying he was with the IRS. The man said he was calling about a tax rebate in June. The resident was aware the call was a scam and hung up the phone.

Bob Brammer, a spokesman for the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, said the Attorney General’s Office has received similar calls from others who recognized the scam.

“The IRS does not work this way,” Brammer said.

Brammer said he tried calling back the number, but the call would not go through.

There have also been cases of people pretending to be from Social Security to get personal information, Brammer said.

Brammer said e-mails which link to fake IRS sites are also problem. According to a news release from the IRS, there is an e-mail scam that claims the recipient is eligible for a tax refund, then provides a link to a fake IRS Web site. The IRS recommends that recipients do not click on links in, or open attachments on these e-mails.

“Most of these are abroad,” Brammer said.

Canada is a particular concern. Brammer said a common scam is people receive a notice that they have won a prize in Canada for $500,000. To get the prize, people are asked to cash a counterfeit check for a few thousand dollars and wire the money to an address in Canada.

“That is extremely common,” Brammer said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Canadian Competition Bureau have teamed up to fight scams by creating the Canadian Anti-fraud Call Centre. The CAFCC, also known as PhoneBusters, has a Web site with more information on scams over the phone and Internet.

If someone thinks he or she has provided personal information to a scammer, or if he or she suspects fraud, he or she should contact local law enforcement and call the Attorney General’s Office’s Consumer Protection Division at (888) 777-4590. There are also tips to avoid identity theft and other consumer tips at the Iowa Attorney General’s Office Web site, http://www.iowa.gov/government/ag/.

Herald Staff Writer Wes Kappelman can be reached by e-mail at news2@oskyherald.com