Photo Credit: David Reber’s Hammer Photography via Compfight cc
If you have received a call from an IRS agent telling you that you are entitled to a big refund or that you owe money that must be paid back immediately, you likely have been the target of a scammer!
The IRS warns consumers to on the lookout for these sophisticated and aggressive phone scams targeting taxpayers.
According to the Internal Revenue Service, the instances of these crimes continue to increase and is not likely to end anytime soon.
The way the scam works is that the victim is contacted by someone claiming to be an IRS official, often times providing the potential victim with a fake badge number, and is told that taxes are due and in order to avoid arrest, they must make a payment immediately over the phone.
Another method is for the con-artist to attempt to trick the unsuspected victim into giving them personal information that they will later use to steal their identity.
The IRS has the following advice for anyone who suspects that they have received a call from one of these scam artists[1]:
- 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.
- You can file a complaint using the FTC Complaint Assistant; choose “Other” and then “Imposter Scams.” If the complaint involves someone impersonating the IRS, include the words “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes.
If you find yourself struggling financially, or would like to find out about becoming debt free, call Debthelper at 800-920-2262, or visit @ www.debthelper.com.
