Valencia, Zone 5

An assault with a deadly weapon occurred near the 24000 block of Valencia Boulevard, Valencia.   A suspect was being detained by loss prevention for shoplifting.   Once outside the suspect tried to get away and attacked the victim.  The suspect, bite the victim in an attempt to escape.   Responding deputies arrested the suspect without incident.

A second assault with a deadly weapon (Vehicle) occurred near the area of Via Labrada and Avandia Navarre.  A male suspect was involved in a verbal altercation with another male.  The suspect tried to run over the victim as he got on his bicycle and tried to leave the area.  The suspect was arrested by responding deputies without incident.

A vehicle theft occurred near the 27600 block of Anza Drive.   An unknown suspect stole a 1987 Toyota pickup truck, California license 8Y78955.  The vehicle was recovered on 08/20/14 in the Canyon Country area.   No suspect information at this time

A vehicle was taken without the owner’s consent from the 24000 block of Tiburon Street.  The suspect is a female Hispanic 21 years old.  The suspect entered the location which was unlocked and stole the victim’s 2013 BMW 3-series 4door silver in color, California license 6ZYV298.  The vehicle is still outstanding as of 08/25/14 and no arrest has been made.

A commercial burglary occurred near the 24600 block of Avenue Rockefeller.  An unknown suspect(s) entered the location by cutting a hole in the perimeter fence.  The suspect(s) cut the locks off to the storage area containing generators and dragged them out of the yard.  No suspect information from this incident.

A vehicle burglary occurred near the 23000 block of Valencia Boulevard.  The victim drove to the location and parked his car in the parking lot.  He returned back to his vehicle 20 minutes later and later noticed his driver side door was punched and his Apple MacBook Air was stolen.  No suspect information available at this time.

A commercial burglary occurred near the 26000 of Auto Center Drive.  An unknown male Hispanic adult walked into the rear of the location.  He was seen on CCTV entering the vehicle painting booth.  One minute later the suspect exited the location and was last seen walking south towards Creekside Drive.  Stolen were 3 paint spray guns from the location.

A shoplifting burglary occurred near the 24200 block of Valencia Boulevard.  A male Hispanic adult entered the location and stole a men t-shirt.  Responding deputies observed the suspect and attempted to detain the suspect.  The suspect fled the location and responding deputies set up containment.  The   suspect was able to escape from the deputies containment.  The suspect is still outstanding.

A shoplifting burglary occurred near the 24400 block of Magic Mountain Parkway.  An unknown male white adult stole a “Fitbit” from the location.  The suspect broke off the security tag and walked towards another part of the store.  The suspect then walked out of the store failing to pay for the concealed item.

I wanted to take a few minutes and provide my zone residents with some useful information in something I have seen increasing in our valley.  Phone scams have been increasing in our valley and continue to plague the residents.  Here is some information to help you deal with these incidents better by protecting yourself and your family.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration continue to hear from taxpayers who have received unsolicited calls from individuals demanding payment while fraudulently claiming to be from the IRS.

Based on the 90,000 complaints that TIGTA has received through its telephone hotline, to date, TIGTA has identified approximately 1,100 victims who have lost an estimated $5 million from these scams.

“There are clear warning signs about these scams, which continue at high levels throughout the nation,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “Taxpayers should remember their first contact with the IRS will not be a call from out of the blue, but through official correspondence sent through the mail.  A big red flag for these scams are angry, threatening calls from people who say they are from the IRS and urging immediate payment. This is not how we operate. People should hang up immediately and contact TIGTA or the IRS.”

Additionally, it is important for taxpayers to know that the IRS:

•  Never asks for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the telephone.

• Never insists that taxpayers use a specific payment method to pay tax obligations

• Never requests immediate payment over the telephone and will not take enforcement action immediately following a phone conversation. Taxpayers usually receive prior notification of IRS enforcement action involving IRS tax liens or levies.

Potential phone scam victims may be told that they owe money that must be paid immediately to the IRS or they are entitled to big refunds. When unsuccessful the first time, sometimes phone scammers call back trying a new strategy.

Other characteristics of these scams include:

• Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.

• Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security number.

• Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling.

• Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.

• Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.

• After threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:

• If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue, if there really is such an issue.

• If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, you’ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to TIGTA at 1.800.366.4484.

• If you’ve been targeted by this scam, you should also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov. Please add “IRS Telephone Scam” to the comments of your complaint.

Taxpayers should be aware that there are other unrelated scams (such as a lottery sweepstakes) and solicitations (such as debt relief) that fraudulently claim to be from the IRS.

The IRS encourages taxpayers to be vigilant against phone and email scams that use the IRS as a lure. The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information. This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels. The IRS also does not ask for PINs, passwords or similar confidential access information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts. Recipients should not open any attachments or click on any links contained in the message. Instead, forward the email to phishing@irs.gov.

For more information or to report a scam, go to www.irs.gov and type “scam” in the search box.

More information on how to report phishing scams involving the IRS is available on the genuine IRS website, IRS.gov.

Deputy Brian Heischuber

baheisch@lasd.org

661-255-1121 EXT. 5164

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

Twitter @SCVSheriff http://www.twitter.com/scvsheriff

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