IRS Scam Phone Calls Increase Prior To Tax Deadline

There is a scam going around for the public to beware of, with the scammers calling individuals and claiming to work for the government. This IRS scam has cost victims $15 million or more, reports CNN. The reason the calls have conned so many folks out of money is because of some of the high-tech tools the scammers are using to sound legitimate when they call. Those techniques include “spoofing” the caller ID number displayed to make it appear as if the calls are coming from the IRS, or even mimicking the background noises heard in call centers to fake as though the caller is in a room with a bunch of other IRS agents talking to others on their own phone calls.

The IRS scammers may use phone numbers that appear to originate from Washington, D.C., and even have information about your financial history. The scam phone calls became so prevalent that the IRS issued a report about how to spot them and what to do if you’ve received one. This reporter actually received three of the IRS scam phone calls in one day, with a computerized voice left on a voicemail message on Sunday, April 5, claiming the made-up name of some IRS agent was calling from the “audit department of the IRS.” It said the call was to inform you that a lawsuit “which has been filed in your name” will be sent with this case to the local county courthouse. In that instance, the scam callers asked to “kindly call us back on our number, which is (713) 701-5034.”

The computerized voicemail is a scam, along with any others purporting to originate with the IRS that haven’t been initially accompanied by a written communication from the IRS. In their report, the IRS states that they’ll never demand payment from those who owe money in the form of a pre-paid debit card like the scammers are doing, nor will they ask for your credit card numbers over the phone.

According to the Desert Sun, California has been the hardest hit state in the IRS phone call scam. With the scammers urging victims to send them money via wire transfers or by giving them the numbers to prepaid debit cards loaded with money to allegedly avoid jail, some victims have been threatened with prison time and fooled into giving the IRS scammers thousands of dollars.

As reported by the Inquisitr, scams such as this IRS phone one sometimes have a happy ending when the victims are able to turn things around for the better and get an apology.

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