Beware of Imitation IRS Agents

Author: Jenny Shilling

Have you recently received a telephone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS?  Chances are it's a scam.  Con artists are using the telephone to demand money from unsuspecting people by claiming they are from the IRS.

The fake IRS representatives tell the person who answer the phone that if they don't pay up immediately, they could have their driver's license revoked or even face jail time. With this type of threat looming, a lot of people act out of fear and comply with this demand.

Through mid-August, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, has received around 90,000 complaints about the scam-IRS calls via its own telephone hotline. More than 1,000 of those who were contacted believed the con artists and handed over an estimated $5 million, according to the IRS.

To avoid becoming a victim of these scams, you should know:

• The IRS will first contact you by mail if you owe taxes, not by phone.
• The IRS never asks for credit, debit or prepaid card information over the phone.
• The IRS never insists that you use a specific payment method to pay your tax.
• The IRS never requests immediate payment over the telephone.
• The IRS will always treat you professionally and courteously.

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

• If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 800-829-1040. IRS employees can help you with a payment issue if you owe taxes.
• If you know you don’t owe taxes or don’t think that you owe any taxes, then call and report the incident to TIGTA at 800-366-4484.
• If cons have tried this scam on you, you should also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov. Please add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments of your complaint.