Last week a client called me to let me know that he received a phone call from the Internal Revenue Service demanding to pay $2,000 over the phone. Being a client of our office I knew that he paid his tax liability on time. I immediately suspect that this was one of these scam phone call . I informed my client not to respond to any future phone calls and to refer any caller to my office.
I would like to share this information to help you avoid being a victim of these scams:
- Scammers make unsolicited calls. Thieves call taxpayers claiming to be IRS officials. They demand that the victim pay a bogus tax bill. They con the victim into sending cash, usually through a prepaid debit card or wire transfer. They may also leave “urgent” callback requests through phone “robo-calls,” or via phishing email.
- Callers try to scare their victims. Many phone scams use threats to intimidate and bully a victim into paying. They may even threaten to arrest, deport or revoke the license of their victim if they don’t get the money.
- Scams use caller ID spoofing. Scammers often alter caller ID to make it look like the IRS or another agency is calling. The callers use IRS titles and fake badge numbers to appear legitimate. They may use the victim’s name, address and other personal information to make the call sound official.
- Cons try new tricks all the time. Some schemes provide an actual IRS address where they tell the victim to mail a receipt for the payment they make. Others use emails that contain a fake IRS document with a phone number or an email address for a reply. These scams often use official IRS letterhead in emails or regular mail that they send to their victims. They try these ploys to make the ruse look official.
Remember that The IRS will not:
- Call you to demand immediate payment. The IRS will not call you if you owe taxes without first sending you a bill in the mail.
- Demand that you pay taxes and not allow you to question or appeal the amount you owe.
- Require that you pay your taxes a certain way. For instance, require that you pay with a prepaid debit card.
- Ask for your credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
- Threaten to bring in police or other agencies to arrest you for not paying.
In the case of this client I filed Power of Attorney with the IRS and I retrived a record of account to make sure his tax account was fine. My client was relief when I informed him that everytthing was fine with his acccount with the IRS.
Please remember to call me if you ever received any similar phone calls to make sure you do not become a victim of these scams.
I hope you have a great week!!!
Julio Jiron, CPA