With tax season already in full swing, police are advising those who have yet to file to do so soon. Otherwise, Ames Police Cmdr. Geoff Huff said, they may receive some frightening news from the IRS.

“We suggest filing your taxes as soon as you can before someone else tries to,” Huff said. “But at this point, we’re way into tax season, so (unfortunately) it’s almost like its too late anyway.”

Huff said police receive numerous calls from people every year saying the IRS informed them that their taxes have already been filed. So far Huff said there have only been five or six such calls, but as the April 15 deadline approaches, he said they will undoubtedly receive more.

“The closer we get the April 15, the more of these we’ll see; I guarantee it,” Huff said.

Last year alone, he said there must have been 25 to 30 cases in Ames of someone having their taxes filed already. He said scammers usually obtain enough information to file the return, and have it sent to a different address. Huff said the biggest challenge about the incidents is that police really do not have much advice other than for people to file their tax returns as soon as possible.

“There’s nothing you can really do until you know that someone’s already filed it,” Huff said. “You don’t really know you’re a victim until you know you’re a victim.”

Huff said police also hear about scammers posing as the IRS in an attempt to get people to pay money into an account.

“It’s hard to believe that (this scam) works, but it does,” Huff said. “It’s just one of those unfortunate incidents, because you don’t even know until you’ve sent your stuff in, and the IRS says, ‘Hey we’ve already got a tax return.'”