Buncombe County Tax Office Warns of Scam Letter
The Buncombe County Tax Department has alerted our community to an ongoing scam targeting area residents.
The Buncombe County Tax Department has alerted our community to an ongoing scam targeting area residents.
The tax office has received reports that fraudulent letters, like the one seen here, have gone out to homeowners, claiming to be from the “Tax Processing Unit of Buncombe County Public Judgement Records.”
No such agency exists, and no such letter has been sent from the tax office.
The letter attempts to scare residents into sending in money by stating: “Your debt must be resolved in full to remove the lien. To avoid enforcement, call 1-800-XXX-XXXX within fifteen (15) days of receiving this notice. Failure to respond in time will cause an additional penalty to accumulate and lead to default judgment.”
Not an official letter
This is not an official letter from Buncombe County. As stated by the actual BC Tax Department, “There is no such County agency, and we believe this is an attempt to scam consumers into paying a fake tax debt.”
There is a bold heading claiming the notice is a Distraint Warrant and a toll-free number listed on the letter, which may lead some consumers to believe this is a legitimate communication. This is a fraudulent notice from a fictitious agency and residents should not call the number.
Ongoing Sheriff’s Department investigation
The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office is investigating this phone number. Please call (828) 250-4436 if you have any information to report.
If you have been a victim of this scam, please report it at (877) 5-NO-SCAM or ncdoj.gov/complaint.
