Please read this article to protect yourself from IRS impersonation scams. Even if you think you would never be vulnerable to these attacks, be aware that the current scammers (posing as the IRS) are incredibly convincing and intimidating and no one is immune to their tactics. The scammer will make it feel impossible to ignore and will convince you that not responding will put your livelihood at risk.
There has been a significant increase in phone scams over the past three years costing taxpayers an estimated $49 million annually. Education is the key to prevention.
The truth is, the IRS will not make initial contact with you by phone or email*. If you have been contacted via phone or email by someone claiming to be with the IRS do not respond. If you have any concerns, please call your CPA or the IRS immediately.
If they use any of these tactics, stop engaging immediately. It is NOT the IRS:
- Intimidation: The scammer may threaten you with jail time, warrants, or public arrests. The IRS almost never makes arrests. In the very few cases that the IRS does make an arrest, they will put a lien on property or levy bank accounts first—all after many, many mailed paper notices. The scammers may allege charges include defrauding the government, money owed for back taxes, lawsuits pending against the recipient, and nonpayment of taxes.
- IRS/Police Phone numbers: The scammer may mask their phone number to match a local IRS office or police station so that if you research them, it looks accurate.
- Personal Information: The scammer may use your personal information to convince you. They may know your address, business address, social security number and even specifics about your area and near-by places you frequent. They will NOT know the amount you paid in tax in the past. This is a great question to test the caller because the IRS would have that information readily available.
- Immediate Payments: The scammer will ask you to pay over the phone via wire transfer, credit cards or even gift cards so that they can collect funds immediately via what they call their “partnership stores”. The IRS does not accept these payments. The IRS will contact you via mail many, many times and ultimately levy bank accounts—not ask for immediate payment over the phone/ email.
- Response Time: The scammer will try to persuade you to not talk to anyone else while on the phone and will claim that it’s a federal crime to do so. The IRS will always allow you to consult with your CPA and legal counsel.
If you’re on the phone with a potential scammer or are trying to verify an IRS communication, here are the IRS resources you’ll need:
- Call the IRS at 800-829-1040. IRS workers can help.
- Call us (or your CPA) at 559-431-8334. You do not need a direct contact, anyone at the firm will be happy to assist you.
- Reporting the scammer:
- Contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to report a phone scam. Use their “IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting” web page. You can also call 800-366-4484.
- Report phone scams to the Federal Trade Commission. Use the “FTC Complaint Assistant” on FTC.gov. Please add “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes.
- Report an unsolicited email claiming to be from the IRS, or an IRS-related component like the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.
If you are interested in hearing specific stories visit these links.
1. This smart, successful business owner was almost scammed for $4,500 in Target gift cards.
2. This young, talented college student was scammed $7,900 under the guise of a federal student tax.
*The only exception to this is if the call is related to money laundering or drug-related offenses. In these cases (and after many, many mailed paper notices), the IRS investigator will not be intimidating and will allow you to return their call at a later time.
By Sarah Moore, Manager at WHH
