Beware Of IRS Phone Scams

By Steve Barlotta, CPA

I think it’s safe to say that no one ever wants to hear from the Internal Revenue Service. Playing on those fears, scammers posing as IRS agents are calling unsuspecting individuals and demanding immediate payment for supposed taxes owed. The tone of these calls can be quite alarming. In some instances, these con artists have threatened to bring in local law enforcement and have the taxpayer arrested if the liabilities were not paid over the phone.

Over the past year, the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) have continued to hear from taxpayers who have received unsolicited phone calls from individuals fraudulently claiming to be from the IRS. To date, TIGTA has received around 90,000 complaints through its telephone hotline and has identified around 1,100 victims who have lost an estimated $5 million from these scams.

Characteristics of the Phone Scam

• Potential phone scam victims may be told that they owe money that needs to be paid that day to the IRS or that they are entitled to big refunds.
• If the scammers are demanding payment for a liability owed, they will ask the individual for their credit card, debit card or prepaid card information.
• Scammers will use fake names and IRS badge numbers.
• Scammers might even know 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 will sometimes follow up their bogus phone call with a bogus IRS email.

Facts About The IRS

• The IRS will never initially contact you via the telephone or email. If they want to reach you, they will send you official correspondence through the mail.
• The IRS will never demand that you pay taxes without giving you the chance to question or appeal the amount owed.
• The IRS will never ask for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the phone and they will never insist on a specific payment method to pay taxes due.
• The IRS will never threaten to bring in law enforcement to have you arrested for not paying taxes owed.

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, hang up the phone immediately. If you think you owe taxes call the IRS at 800-829-1040 and an agent can help you with any payment issue, if there is one at all. If you have no reason to believe that you owe anything, call and report the incident to TIGTA at 800-366-4484. You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission using its “FTC Complaint Assistant” (ftc.gov). Include the words “IRS Telephone Scam’ in the notes.