The Internal Revenue Service is warning senior citizens and other taxpayers to beware of an emerging federal tax refund scam tempting victims to file tax returns claiming fraudulent refunds.

Bogus refund claims have been identified across the nation. These schemes carry a common theme of promising refunds to people who have little or no income and who normally are not required to file a federal income tax return, the IRS says.

Promoters falsely claim they can obtain a tax refund or nonexistent stimulus payment for their victims based on the American Opportunity Tax Credit, even if the victim was not enrolled in or paying for college, the agency says.

Typically, con artists falsely claim that refunds are available even if the victim never went to college, or attended decades ago. In many cases, scammers are targeting seniors, people with very low incomes and members of church congregations with false promises of free money.

A Spokane credit union says local consumers are reporting a phone scam aimed at tricking them to reveal debit and credit card information.

The STCU phone center today is inundated with calls from credit union members and some non-members who reported receiving official-sounding automated phone calls that supposedly come from STCU.

As of 10:30 a.m., more than 100 callers contacted STCU about the phone calls, spokesman Dan Hansen said.

The calls inform the recipients that “Your debit card (or credit card) has been deactivated.” They are asked to provide their debit or credit card number, PIN and expiration date, Hansen said.

The calls appear to be blanketing the region at random, as many of the recipients are not STCU members, he added.

STCU never calls its members asking for credit or debit card information, Hansen said.

Consumers should be wary of any call or e-mail seeking credit or debit card information or other sensitive personal information, Hansen said. These contacts often are scams perpetuated by people looking to commit identity theft.