The IRS is warning Americans that criminals have already stolen more than one million dollars from victims through an ongoing phone scam. “This is the largest scam of its kind that we have ever seen,” warns J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General For Tax Administration.
The thieves, impersonating IRS officers, call unsuspecting targets and insist that the victims owe the IRS money. To make matters worse, con artists threaten their victims with arrest, deportation, or suspension of their driver’s license if the debt is not paid by wire transfer or pre-paid debit card.
And while you may not think you’d fall for the scam, think again. The impersonators are skilled at adding legitimacy to their con. Frequently they are able to recite the last four digits of a target’s Social Security Number and often know where their victims work. They manipulate caller IDs to make it appear as if their calls are coming from the IRS. The criminals even go as far as to follow up their phone calls with official looking emails.
According to the IRS, the scam has reached nearly every state in the country with more than 20,000 taxpayers targeted.
Even a Forbes financial magazine staff writer nearly became a victim. Halah Touryalai recounts:
“For the next 5 or so minutes, I listened in absolute panic. He [scammer] recited the last four digits of my social security number and knew where I worked. He told me that I’d failed to declare all of my income and engaged in tax fraud. He then told me the government was seizing any property and any assets in my name, that it had already froze my bank and credit card accounts, suspended my driver’s license as well as my passport. There would be a massive penalty, plus possible jail-time. Further, my social security number was now blacklisted. By now, I’d stopped in my tracks as I listened with fear to this IRS agent who went on to tell me someone would be waiting at my office to arrest me.”
According to acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, the first time the IRS contacts someone about a tax issue it is likely to occur by mail. “If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and threatens police arrest, deportation or license revocation if you don’t pay immediately, that is a sign that it really isn’t the IRS calling,” explains Werfel.
If you get a call from someone claiming to represent the IRS and you think you might owe taxes, hang up and call the IRS directly at 1-800-829-1040. If you know that you don’t owe taxes call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1-800-366-4484.
BMWK, have you ever been the target of a phone scam?