Congress Holds Hearing on Tax Scams
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iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — At an alarmingly high rate, con artists are claiming that they’re from the Internal Revenue Service, threatening legal action if people don’t pay up.
The scams are happening all over the U.S., and just in time for Tax Day, Congress is taking steps to try to stop them.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, will hold a hearing on this tax fraud epidemic on Wednesday. She says more than 400,000 Americans have been targeted by scammers pretending to be IRS agents.
The scammers will usually call taxpayers, telling them that they owe money and need to act fast before the IRS takes action against them. But as IRS spokesman Eric Smith notes, any caller that asks you to pay by phone using your credit or debit card is the telltale sign of a scam.
“We will never call you and demand that you pay your tax debt in a particular way,” Smith says. He adds, “If you owe the IRS money, you generally know.”
Among those testifying at the hearing Wednesday is Al Cadenhead, a 67-year-old pastor from Charlotte, North Carolina. He says he was scammed out of $16,500.
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