By Anne Rice, Esquire on Friday, 31 October 2014
Category: General

BEWARE: IRS PHONE SCAM

There is a sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, throughout the country and it is targeting NH residents as well. 

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. These scammers may even have caller ID numbers that appear to be from the IRS, the court or the police Deprtment and their tactics are aggressive.

Don't fall prey to this scam. 

Here's what you need to know:

  1. The IRS does 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.
  2. “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.”

People should know that according to the IRS, the first IRS contact with taxpayers on a tax issue is likely to occur via mail and not the phone.

Other characteristics of this scam include:

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:

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.

More information on how to report phishing scams involving the IRS is available on the genuine IRS website, IRS.gov.