Tax Fraudsters and You

[Fanra]

I just got a robocall claiming the IRS was after me and filing a lawsuit. I can't be sure if they claimed to actually be the IRS or just there to help me against them, but in any case it was criminals trying to scam me.

Just a reminder, the IRS will NEVER phone you about tax issues. They also will NEVER send you email. They will send you a United States Postal Service letter in your mailbox. If you do get a letter, always call the IRS or write them after checking online at https://www.irs.gov/ to make sure the phone number and address are really the IRS ones and not someone pretending to be them.

In addition to the fact the IRS will never call you, you should also never trust any third party you didn't contact first if they claim you are in tax trouble. If you ever suspect you are in tax trouble, your first step is to go to the nearest IRS office and ask for any documents showing any trouble. If there actually is a problem, then you can take those documents to a real lawyer or accountant.

Don't trust anyone claiming to be from the IRS or to be a "friend" who wants to help you avoid fines or prison.

On a more personal note, I know someone who was scammed this way when their spouse who did their taxes died, and not knowing anything about the taxes and still mourning, they fell for people claiming they were from the IRS and there was tax trouble and to keep it secret (no asking anyone for help, i.e. someone who could tell them it was a scam) and pay some money now or else they would be in big trouble.


I've just done my taxes, so if there really was a problem I would just blame Denlar anyway :).

[Fanra]

I reported the phone call to [email protected] and got this reply (note when I said they will never contact you by email, obviously this is an exception because it is not about my taxes):

This is an automatic reply from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Online Fraud Detection and Prevention (OFDP) team.
We have received your report of possible phishing or fraud. Although we review and investigate each email we receive,
due to the number of incident complaints, we cannot guarantee a personal response to your message.

Please note that the IRS does not contact individuals by email.
Therefore, if you received an email claiming to be from the IRS it is a phishing attempt and should be reported to us.

Additional information on IRS phishing can be viewed here:
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Report-Phishing

Additional information on avoiding phishing scams can be viewed here:
http://www.antiphishing.org/consumer_recs.html

Additionally, please be aware of Telephone Scams. The IRS will always send taxpayers a written notification of
any tax due via the U.S. Mail. The IRS never asks for credit, debit or prepaid card information over the telephone.
Please see:
https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/press...ta-2015-34.htm

The IRS values your report, and encourages individuals to report future IRS phishing/fraud to [email protected]
so that we can handle these incidents and limit the number of possible victims.
To limit email volume, you will only receive one auto-response per day for any of your submissions.

Thank you for your report.
Regards,

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
Online Fraud Detection and Prevention (OFDP)
[email protected]