General Characteristics of Tax Fraud With the IRS
Tax season is in full swing, which means there are plenty of IRS scammers. These scams have also become more sophisticated. Keep track of them knowing their general characteristics.
MagnifyMoney explains that the most popular tax frauds now occur over the phone or via text messages. Scammers will claim you have late payments to the IRS and often threaten you with fines or jail time. While it clearly sounds fake, according to MagnifyMoney, scammers use several common tricks to make their claim more credible:
- Scammers use fictitious names and IRS badge numbers. They usually use common first and last names to identify themselves.
- Fraudsters can speak the last four digits of the victim’s social security number.
- Scammers fake the IRS toll-free number in the caller ID to give the impression that it is the IRS calling.
- Scammers sometimes send fake IRS emails to some victims to support their fake calls.
- Victims hear background noise from other conversations that mimic the place of the conversation.
- After threatening victims with jail time or revocation of their driver’s licenses, the scammers hang up and others soon call back, pretending to be from the local police or DMV, with a caller ID confirming their claim.
Keep in mind that the IRS recently released a statement saying they will never ask for credit card numbers over the phone, nor will they ask for bank transfers or requests for prepaid debit cards. These are obvious red flags.
If you receive a phone call, text message, or email that you suspect is fraudulent, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040 to see if you really owe something . If not, report the fraud to the Inspector General of the Treasury Tax Service at 1.800.366.4484.
MagnifyMoney also provides some extra precautions. Check out their publication in full.
Consumer Watchman: Tax Fraud | MagnifyMoney