IRS Warns of Pervasive Telephone Scam

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

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.