{"id":1703,"date":"2015-10-28T16:43:24","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T21:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com\/?p=1703"},"modified":"2017-10-16T14:18:02","modified_gmt":"2017-10-16T19:18:02","slug":"irs-urges-public-to-stay-alert-for-scam-phone-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accountants.intuit.com\/taxprocenter\/tax-law-and-news\/irs-urges-public-to-stay-alert-for-scam-phone-calls\/","title":{"rendered":"IRS Urges Public to Stay Alert for Scam Phone Calls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">The IRS continues to warn consumers to guard against scam phone calls from thieves intent on stealing their money or their identity. Criminals pose as the IRS to trick victims out of their money or personal information. Here are several tips to help your clients avoid being a victim of these scams:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><b>Scammers make unsolicited calls.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight:400;\"> Thieves call taxpayers 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 \u201curgent\u201d callback requests through phone \u201crobo-calls,\u201d or via <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/uac\/Report-Phishing\" data-wa-link=\"body_irs-phising\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">phishing email<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><b>Callers try to scare their victims.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight:400;\"> 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\u2019t get the money.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><b>Scams use caller ID spoofing.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight:400;\"> Scammers often alter caller ID 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\u2019s name, address and other personal information to make the call sound official.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><b>Cons try new tricks all the time.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight:400;\"> Some schemes provide an actual IRS address where they tell the victim to mail a receipt for the payment they make. Others use emails that contain a fake IRS document with a phone number or an email address for a reply. These scams often use official IRS letterhead in emails or regular mail that they send to their victims. They try these ploys to make the ruse look official.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><b>Scams cost victims over $23 million.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight:400;\"> The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, has received reports of about 736,000 scam contacts since October 2013. Nearly 4,550 victims have collectively paid over $23 million as a result of the scam.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>The IRS will not:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Call you to demand immediate payment. The IRS will not call you if you owe taxes without first sending you a bill in the mail.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Demand that you pay taxes and not allow you to question or appeal the amount you owe.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Require that you pay your taxes a certain way. For instance, require that you pay with a prepaid debit card.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Ask for your credit or debit card numbers over the phone.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Threaten to bring in police or other agencies to arrest you for not paying.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">If you don\u2019t owe taxes, or have no reason to think that you do:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Do not give out any information. Hang up immediately.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Contact TIGTA to report the call. Use their \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.treasury.gov\/tigta\/contact_report_scam.shtml\" data-wa-link=\"body_treasury-scam\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">\u201d web page. You can also call 800-366-4484<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Use the \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov\/GettingStarted?NextQID=216&amp;Selected=t%20-%20crnt\" data-wa-link=\"body_ftccomplaints\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">FTC Complaint Assistant<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">\u201d on FTC.gov. Please add &#8220;IRS Telephone Scam&#8221; in the notes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">If you know you owe, or think you may owe tax:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight:400;\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Call the IRS at 800-829-1040. IRS workers can help you.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Phone scams first tried to sting older people, new immigrants to the U.S. and those who speak English as a second language. Now the crooks try to swindle just about anyone. And they\u2019ve ripped-off people in every state in the nation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">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 \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/uac\/Tax-Scams-Consumer-Alerts\" data-wa-link=\"body_irs-scamAlerts\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Tax Scams and Consumer Alerts<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">\u201d on <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/irs.gov\/\" data-wa-link=\"body_irs\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">IRS.gov<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Each and every taxpayer has a set of fundamental rights they should be aware of when dealing with the IRS. These are your <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/Taxpayer-Bill-of-Rights\" data-wa-link=\"body_irs-tpBOR\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">Taxpayer Bill of Rights<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">. Explore your rights and our obligations to protect them on\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/irs.gov\/\" data-wa-link=\"body_irs\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">IRS.gov<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight:400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The IRS continues to warn consumers to guard against scam phone calls from thieves intent on stealing their money or their identity. Criminals pose as the IRS to trick victims out of their money or personal information. Here are several tips to help your clients avoid being a victim of these scams: Scammers make unsolicited<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17093207,"featured_media":10577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rkv_reviewed_by_select":[],"rkv_browse_by_id":0,"rkv_cta_id":0,"rkv_optimize_for_pagespeed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"useModifiedDate":false,"customPublishDate":"","customModifiedDate":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[509474089],"tags":[130072316,7649],"intuit_collection":[],"intuit_series":[],"coauthors":[509474107],"class_list":["post-1703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tax-law-and-news","tag-fraud-and-security","tag-irs"],"header_image":"","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.3 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>IRS Scam Phone Call Warning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The IRS is urging taxpayers and tax professionals to stay alert for scam phone calls from imposters demanding payment or personal information. 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