IRS: Tax-Related Phone Scams Are ‘No April Fool’s Joke’
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iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — IRS-related phone scams are no joke, the agency’s Commissioner John Koskinen said Tuesday.
Scammers continue to use tricks to take advantage of American taxpayers, an IRS release says, including the use of fake names, bogus IRS badge numbers and altered caller ID numbers. “This is no April Fool’s joke,” Koskinen said. “Everyone should be on the lookout for threatening calls from people faking IRS phone numbers and demands for immediate payment.”
Any such call, he noted, is a scam. The IRS reiterates its warning to taxpayers that it will never call to demand immediate payment, will not call without having first mailed a bill, will always offer the opportunity to question or appeal taxes they say you owe, and will never require use of specific payment for taxes.
Anyone who believes they have been targeted by such a phone scam is advised to call the Federal Trade Commission and/or the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
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