BATTLE CREEK, Michigan — “They're going to take my house away, you know. It'll make me homeless,” Battle Creek resident Lesley Lux told me as he held a threatening letter from the Michigan Department of Labor, claiming he owed over $1,000 in taxes.
If he doesn’t pay? The letter said it would seize his bank account, property, assets, and more.
Since March alone, Lesley has received four of these letters, all with differing amounts owed, but nothing has happened.
Luckily, before handing over any money, Lesley checked in with his tax preparer, who conducted a thorough investigation and found that these letters were, in fact, a scam.
“They're hoping that you're scared,” Nakia Mills, with the Better Business Bureau of Michigan, said. “So they're hoping you just hurry up and give them money, and you go away.”
Mills says this is a classic scare tactic scammers use to get your money, but adds that for them to track down your information, they had to get it from somewhere.
“The person may have shared their information somewhere on the dark web,” Mills said. “Now, scammers have access to it.”
The scam is so common that even the Michigan Department of Treasury issued these indications that a letter you received from the agency is most likely fake:
- Aggressive, threatening language
- A request for an untraceable payment
- Generic or spoofed agency names, like the tax department
- Incorrect return information
- A lack of official details
For now, Lesley is just happy he still has his house and his money.
“Talk to your tax preparer, your bank, and any other financial institutions that you belong to, and be very, very cautious, especially on your phones,” Lesley warned.
If you do receive a suspicious letter, the Better Business Bureau advises not to call any numbers listed in the letter or provide any personal information. Instead, contact the state directly using the official numbers posted on the government websites.
