With tax time fast approaching, there are more and more reports of telephone scams involving people claiming to be from the IRS and demanding payment of money over the phone.
The IRS has a list of scams on their website, including the most recent telephone one.
As they point out:
Note that the IRS will never: 1) call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill; 2) demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe; 3) require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card; 4) ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone; or 5) threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.
It is important to be vigilant and to let your aging relatives (who can be particularly vulnerable) know to ignore these calls. The callers often disguise their telephone numbers to make it look like they are calling from the IRS, and they may even know personal information about the person they are calling.
If you or a relative receive one of these phone calls and want to verify that it was not the IRS calling, you can reach out to the IRS at the contact information found on their official website. DO NOT call the phone number left by the supposed “IRS agent,” no matter how urgent they claim the call to be.
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