Record spike in IRS scams hitting West Virginia

Scammers rely on most people’s fear of the IRS, DeWine said.

The information does not necessarily come from any breach of personal information, and breaches do not automatically mean that identity theft is imminent. While most of those who report the scams said they hadn’t lost any money; since October 2013, more than 5,000 victims have paid more than $26.5 million nationally as a result of the phone scam, according to the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The IRS has seen a surge of these phone scams in recent years as scam artists threaten taxpayers with police arrest, deportation and license revocation, among other things.

He said the IRS is trying to help taxpayers by offering free Equifax identify theft protection for a year, encouraging people to place fraud alerts on their credit accounts, placing extra scrutiny on tax returns and Social Security numbers, and placing special markers on hacked accounts.

The information contained in these was then used to file fraudulent returns early and claim refunds back from the IRS on behalf of their victims.

“It is critical to know that the IRS does not call and tell people they are under investigation or that they owe money”, Madigan said.

“The best way to combat this scam is to immediately hang up and provide no information”, said McMahon.

Not even Virginia based tax attorney, Wayne Zell, was protected from hackers who he says stole his identity.

Look into call-blocking options. If you are a tax preparer, try @IRStaxpros to receive updated news that you can use. They could easily download several years of tax forms for tasks like applying for a mortgage or college financial aid.

From February to May, attackers had sought to gain access to personal tax information through the agency’s “Get Transcript” online application, which calls up information from previous returns, the tax collection agency said in May. The message may be part of a phishing scam. They just turned a useful IRS feature into a leaky faucet – by answering all the verification questions correctly. Tax identity theft should be reported to the IRS (for federal taxes) or the Ohio Department of Taxation (for state taxes).

If you think you’ve gotten a call from the scammers, you can reach the Attorney General Office’s Consumer Protection Division at 800-368-8808 or 304-267-0239.

Audio of a reported “IRS” scam call is available on the Ohio Attorney General’s website.