Phone & Internet Scams re IRS

Based on the 90,000 complaints that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has received through its telephone hotline, to date, TIGTA has identified approximately 1,100 victims who have lost an estimated $5 million from scams originating as unsolicited calls demanding payment while fraudulently claiming to be from the IRS.

There are clear warning signs about these scams.  The IRS never:

• initiates first contact about any tax assessment or delinquent collection in a phone call from out of the blue, but through official correspondence sent through the mail.
• makes angry, threatening calls urging immediate payment.
• asks for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the telephone.
• initiates contact with taxpayers by email or other electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels, to request personal or financial information .
• asks for PINs, passwords or similar confidential access information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts.
• insists that taxpayers use a specific payment method to pay tax obligation.
• requests immediate payment over the telephone.
• contacts taxpayers about lottery sweepstakes.
• makes solicitations to taxpayers abut debt relief.
• takes enforcement action immediately following a phone conversation. Taxpayers usually receive prior notification via the mail 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.

DISCLAIMER: This information is extracted with permission from IRS releases.  We are not a source for dealing with scams using the IRS as a lure and can provide no specific assistance to those receiving such phone calls or electronic messages.  Recipients should not open any attachments or click on any links contained in the message. Instead, forward the e-mail to phishing@irs.gov or follow the IRS directions listed above for what to do.  For more information or to report a scam, go to www.irs.gov and type “scam” in the search box.