IRS warns of scammers

The TIGTA is aware of several thousands of victims who collectively have lost more than $20 million to the scams.

“We continue to see these aggressive tax scams across the country”, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in a news release. “Scam artists specialize in being deceptive and fooling people”.

Whereas in the past, it appeared scammers targeted the elderly and vulnerable, now criminals are targeting virtually anyone.

Typically, the scam involves telling their targets that they owe money to a government agency, such as the IRS or Department of Motor Vehicles. Best advice: call the lender or debt collector directly using the number listed on your bill. They use online resources to get the person’s name, address and other details about their life to make the call sound official. Some con artists even provide an actual IRS address where the victim can mail a receipt for the payment to make the scheme look official.

Brazen scammers will even provide their victims with directions to the nearest bank or business where the victim can obtain a means of payment such as a debit card, the IRS said.

The most common theme with these tricks seems to be fear, said the IRS. “Scammers try to scare people into reacting immediately without taking a moment to think through what is actually happening”, the agency said.

The scam artists often threaten police arrest, deportation, and license revocation.

If you don’t answer, they often leave an “urgent” callback request. For three hours on Friday, they pounded her with harassing phone calls on her home phone and cell phone, telling her the IRS was suing her and demanding unpaid taxes she allegedly owed.

A new trick circulating around Nevada is a bogus letter allegedly from the IRS that threatens a criminal lawsuit if you don’t pay up. It also said that, it will never demand any kind of payment without giving a chance to question or appeal the supposedly non-paid amount.

The IRS will not require that you use a specific payment method, such as a prepaid debit card or wire transfer.

According to the Attorney General’s office, the IRS scam is now the number one phone scam in the entire state.

If you have received an IRS imposter phone call and would like to report it to law enforcement or if you have sent money to a scammer, contact the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Fraud Line at 258-3292.

“If you’ve been targeted by any scam, be sure to contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their FTC Complaint Assistant at FTC.gov”, the bulletin says.