Aggressive and threatening phone calls by criminals
impersonating IRS agents remain a major threat to taxpayers, headlining the
annual “Dirty Dozen” list of tax scams for the 2016 filing season, the Internal
Revenue Service announced Feb. 2.
The IRS has seen a surge of these phone scams as scam
artists threaten police arrest, deportation, license revocation and other
things. The IRS reminds taxpayers to guard against all sorts of con games that
arise during any filing season.
“Taxpayers across the nation face a deluge of these
aggressive phone scams. Don’t be fooled by callers pretending to be from the
IRS in an attempt to steal your money,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
“We continue to say if you are surprised to be hearing from us, then you’re not
hearing from us.”
“There are many variations. The caller may threaten you with
arrest or court action to trick you into making a payment,” Koskinen added.
“Some schemes may say you’re entitled to a huge refund. These all add up to
trouble. Some simple tips can help protect you.”
The Dirty Dozen is compiled annually by the IRS and lists a
variety of common scams taxpayers may encounter any time during the year. Many
of these con games peak during filing season as people prepare their tax
returns or hire someone to do so.
This January, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax
Administration announced they have received reports of roughly 896,000 contacts
since October 2013 and have become aware of more than 5,000 victims who have
collectively paid more than $26.5 million as a result of the scam.
“The IRS continues working to warn taxpayers about phone
scams and other schemes,” Koskinen said. “We especially want to thank the
law-enforcement community, tax professionals, consumer advocates, the states,
other government agencies and particularly the Treasury Inspector General for
Tax Administration for helping us in this battle against these persistent phone
scams.”
Scammers make unsolicited calls claiming to be IRS officials.
They demand that the victim pay a bogus tax bill. They con the victim into
sending cash, usually through a prepaid debit card or wire transfer. They may
also leave “urgent” callback requests through phone “robo-calls,” or via a
phishing email.
Many phone scams use threats to intimidate and bully a
victim into paying. They may even threaten to arrest, deport or revoke the
license of their victim if they don’t get the money.
Scammers often alter caller ID numbers to make it look like
the IRS or another agency is calling. The callers use IRS titles and fake badge
numbers to appear legitimate. They may use the victim’s name, address and other
personal information to make the call sound official.
Here are five things the scammers often do but the IRS will
not do. Any one of these five things is a tell-tale sign of a scam.
The IRS will never:
• Call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call
about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.
• Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity
to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.
• Require you to use a specific payment method for your
taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.
• Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
• Threaten to bring in local police or other law enforcement
groups to have you arrested for not paying.
If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the
IRS and asking for money, here’s what you should do:
If you don’t owe taxes, or have no reason to think that you
do:
• Do not give out any information. Hang up immediately.
• Contact TIGTA to report the call. Use their “IRS
Impersonation Scam Reporting” web page at
https://apps.irs.gov/app/scripts/exit.jsp?dest=https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml
or call 800-366-4484.
• Report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Use the “FTC
Complaint Assistant“ on http://www.FTC.gov. Add “IRS Telephone Scam” in the
notes.
If you know you owe, or think you may owe tax:
• Call the IRS at 800-829-1040. IRS workers can help you.
Stay alert to scams that use the IRS as a lure. Tax scams
can happen any time of year, not just at tax time. For more, visit “Tax Scams
and Consumer Alerts on http://www.IRS.gov.
Each and every taxpayer has a set of fundamental rights they
should be aware of when dealing with the IRS. These are your Taxpayer Bill of
Rights (https://www.irs.gov/Taxpayer-Bill-of-Rights). Explore your rights and
our obligations to protect them on http://www.IRS.gov.