The IRS reports that since 2013, over 800,000 people have received phone calls from people claiming to work for the IRS and demanding immediate tax payment. This has resulted in over $26 MILLION dollars collectively paid to scammers. Please be very careful as this tax season comes to a close since this is when these phone calls really begin to increase.
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: DO NOT GIVE OUT ANY INFORMATION & HANG UP IMMEDIATELY!
The IRS can be reached at 1-800-829-1040
5 comments
I get them all the time…they say IRS, we are in Canada. “They try to sound official”.
It laughable if they didn’t trick the elderly.
I get the Microsoft fake cals tool, when i end the call they start to shout on the phone.
I block the call and a month later they call from a different number…just hang up!
I received three of these. Each time I listened until the caller gave me a phone number to return the call. Then I hung up and reported the date, time, and call-back number to the IRS and the Better Business Bureau. This finally put an end to the calls.