The IRS is warning of phone and email scams targeting individuals and businesses.
First, scammers have been making calls claiming to be from the IRS. They may say that a taxpayer owes money or is entitled to a large refund. Even worse, some of the scammers are threatening arrest or revocation of the taxpayer’s driver’s license. The calls may be followed by other fake calls from state agencies.
The IRS will always send taxpayers written notification of any tax due by mail. The IRS never asks for credit card, debit card, or prepaid card information over the phone.
If you are at all unsure about a call “from the IRS,” don’t provide any personal information. Instead hang up and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration here or call 800-366-4484. In addition, report the scammers to the Federal Trade Commission using the “FTC Complaint Assistant.” Add “IRS Telephone Scam” to the comments of your complaint.
Taxpayers have also been receiving emails that seem to be official IRS notices. The emails include links that recipients are instructed to click on, which lead to web pages where personal information is requested.
The IRS does NOT initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text, or any form of social media to request personal or financial information. Do not respond to these emails and especially DO NOT click links included in them. Instead, forward the scam emails to the IRS at [email protected].
Find out about more scams here. What punishment do you think befits these scammers?