Lately a number of people have called our office fearful that the IRS was going to sue them, but completely in the dark about why. In some cases, those people owed the IRS back taxes, but in others they did not. A few folks were rightly suspicious and asked us if this was real. Fortunately, the answer was simple and the rest of this post will explain why.
No, the Internal Revenue Service did not call you. IRS has warned consumers about a sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, throughout the country.
How to recognize this scam.
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.
The IRS does not need to threaten you with a lawsuit to get paid.
You need to know that 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. And, recipients of any suspect e-mail should not open any attachments or click on any links contained in the message. Instead, forward the e-mail to phishing@irs.gov.
Other characteristics of this scam include:
1. Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
2. Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security Number.
3. Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling.
4. Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.
5. 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:
A. 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, or if you are nervous about contacting the IRS directly, then contact a local tax controversy lawyer and hire them to look into the matter for you. In many cases, with just a few moments an attorney can confirm that the call was a scam. But, in all cases, a call by your tax attorney to the IRS will verify if the collections division has you in their crosshairs.
OR
B. 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.