The IRS has announced that it has seen a surge in aggressive and threatening phone calls from criminals impersonating IRS employees.
We know this is true -- because a CLIENT of York Insurance Services received a similar phone call about 2 weeks ago from someone claiming to be from the IRS. The caller knew personal information about the client (his address!), and threatened to take legal action -- all this on a voice-mail message left on the PERSONAL phone land line of the client, at his home!
OBVIOUSLY this was very troubling to our client, with reason.
Here are some useful tips on how to identify and handle potential schemes.
Basically, the IRS will never:
• Demand immediate payment, or call about taxes owed without first mailing a bill.
• Demand that you owe money without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount.
• Require a specific payment method, or ask for credit/debit card information over the phone.
• Threaten you with arrest or legal action (which is what the call our client received did).
So, if you receive a suspicious "from the IRS" phone call:
Do not provide any information!
Record the caller's name, ID number (ask for it!), call back number, and caller ID -- basically, anything you can get on the caller.
Call 1-800-366-4484 with this information to determine if the caller is an IRS employee with a legitimate need to contact you.
If the person calling you is an IRS employee, call the person back, but if the person is NOT, immediately report the incident to:
phishing@irs.gov
(e-mail address)
(e-mail address)
using the subject: IRS Phone Scam. INCLUDE ANY AND ALL DATA YOU HAVE, including date and time of the call, caller ID #, etc.
The more people do this, the more likely it will be that the authorities will stop the practice (or at least slow it down)!