WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today warned consumers about
a sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants,
throughout the country.
Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be paid promptly through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. If the victim refuses to cooperate, they are then threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver’s license. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting.
“This scam has hit taxpayers in nearly every state in the country. We want to educate taxpayers so they can help protect themselves. Rest assured, we do not and will not ask for credit card numbers over the phone, nor request a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer,” says IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel. “If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and threatens police arrest, deportation or license revocation if you don’t pay immediately, that is a sign that it really isn’t the IRS calling.” Werfel noted that the first IRS contact with taxpayers on a tax issue is likely to occur via mail.
Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be paid promptly through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. If the victim refuses to cooperate, they are then threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver’s license. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting.
“This scam has hit taxpayers in nearly every state in the country. We want to educate taxpayers so they can help protect themselves. Rest assured, we do not and will not ask for credit card numbers over the phone, nor request a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer,” says IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel. “If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and threatens police arrest, deportation or license revocation if you don’t pay immediately, that is a sign that it really isn’t the IRS calling.” Werfel noted that the first IRS contact with taxpayers on a tax issue is likely to occur via mail.
Other
characteristics of this scam 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 the Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration 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 e-mail to phishing@irs.gov.
More information on how to report phishing scams involving the IRS is available on the genuine IRS website, IRS.gov. You can reblog the IRS tax scam alert via Tumblr.
More information on how to report phishing scams involving the IRS is available on the genuine IRS website, IRS.gov. You can reblog the IRS tax scam alert via Tumblr.
Karen
L. Russell
Internal
Revenue Service
Small
Business/Self-Employed
Senior
Stakeholder Liaison
Email:
karen.l.russell@irs.gov
Mobile:
478-334-1998
Fax: 877-477-8492
