IRS gives Warning to Taxpayers Regarding Fraudulent Tax Scams

Tax practitioners and tax payers are being cautioned by the Internal Revenue Service against the latest scams even as losses close to $ 20 million have been stolen from fraudster victims who have been claiming to be working for IRS and also other agencies of the government such as the Department of Motor Vehicles

The IRS said that these schemes can either occur through letters which seem to have authentic letter heads, on phone or even emails. Their mission is to trick the tax payers to provide them with personal information of financial nature or trick people to make falsified tax payments to these criminals.

Since October 2013, the Tax Administration Inspector General has received reports of close to 600,000 contacts. The TIGTA also knows 4,000 victims who have reported financial losses collectively to over $ 20 million due to the tax scams. Tax payers are urged by the IRS to be very careful and to think again before answering to emails, phone calls or letters which seem suspicious. Those scammers who pose as agents of IRS firstly target those they seem to be vulnerable like immigrants who are new and those who don’t view the English language as the first language. The criminals are expanding every day and virtually everybody has become a target.

In the latest variation, these scammers change what appears on your phone as the ID such that you will think that they work for IRS or such other department like of Motor Vehicles. To lure you to their trap, they will use fake titles, names and badge numbers. So that they obtain your information, they use online resources and other details regarding your life in order to make the call very real. They will also go to an extent of copying the official IRS letter head to use it in the regular emails. Bold scammers will even go ahead and give directions to victims of the nearest business or bank where one can obtain a means of payment such as a debit card.

IRS urged tax payers to keep in mind that the official website of IRS is IRS.gov and not that ending with .org, .net or .com.