You May Get A "Call" From The "IRS" - This is a Scam

[james.hendrickson]

The IRS is still processing people's taxes, so the scammers are working the phones.

If you get a voicemail that says there is a "tax fraud pending" or something similar and it asks you to call back before "you get arrested", be cautious.

This highly likely to be a scam. The IRS doesn't call people - they send you a letter via the USPS. If you have any questions regarding your taxes, contact the IRS vis IRS.gov to confirm.

[james.hendrickson]

And...I totally got that scam call this morning. The number was 408-372-2195.

[Jluke]

my favorite voicemail message ended with:

"I repeat {####} do not disregard this message and do return the call now. If you don't return the call and I don't hear from your attorney either, then the only thing I can do is wish you a good luck as the situation unfolds on you. goodbye"

[bjl584]

I get 2 calls a day.
It's always from a different number.

[Gailete]

Well, getting a call from the 'irs' would sure be a switch from all the calls we get about signing up for health care insurance. I got so many yesterday I forced myself to hang on long enough to hear the press this button to not get more calls which I did. Then a couple hours later got a call from the same place and the same computer named Ann. I've had a nice quiet morning today, but those calls are such a bunch of nonsense and annoying when I am focused on something else.

[msomnipotent]

I used to get the IRS call every time I had company over. I canceled my home phone and things are much nicer now.

[james.hendrickson]

Guys - please do not forget, a lot of these scammers will call children as well. If your kids have their own phone numbers, please teach them that the IRS will never call you.

For that matter, tell your parents. The IRS will not call you.

[CarolBee]

My personal favorite is the one where there are four warrants out for my arrest, and if I don't return their call law enforcement will come and arrest me. My husband got the same call at work and we figured out we must be a really small gang!

[TexasHusker]

The IRS is still processing people's taxes, so the scammers are working the phones.

If you get a voicemail that says there is a "tax fraud pending" or something similar and it asks you to call back before "you get arrested", be cautious.

This highly likely to be a scam. The IRS doesn't call people - they send you a letter via the USPS. If you have any questions regarding your taxes, contact the IRS vis IRS.gov to confirm.

Now you tell me! I just wired them $20K last night so they wouldn't come arrest me!

[rob62521]

We got the same call. The voice was either computer generated or ??? and hard to understand. Total scam. We were not quaking in out boots.

[james.hendrickson]

For all of you who got these fake IRS scam calls, at least the DOJ appears to be doing something about it.

From the NY Times:

With stiff sentences for 21 conspirators last week in the United States and a round of indictments in India, the Justice Department says it has broken up what appeared to be the nation’s first large-scale, multinational telephone fraud operation.

Over four years, more than 15,000 victims in the United States lost “hundreds of millions” of dollars to the sophisticated scam, and more than 50,000 individuals had their personal information misused, the department said Friday. The money was routed through call centers in India back to the ringleaders in eight states.

The fraudulent calls came suddenly and frequently while the scam was active from 2012 to 2016, according to court documents. A person posing as an Internal Revenue Service or immigration official was on the phone, threatening arrest, deportation or other penalties if the victims did not immediately pay their debts with prepaid cards or wire transfers.

Article here.

[Gailete]

Now I wish they would go after the phishers using fake Amazon and PayPal emails. Just another thing for me to delete and funny for me as at times I see them in my junk email box after having just been on PP and most importantly on Amazon and my account isn't in any trouble at all.

And then there are the poor widow messages from Africa that want to gift me with millions. I will read about one a month as they make me giggle and that is a good way to relax.

[~bs]

irs corresponds through mail.


the only time you'd correspond through the phone is if you're calling them or if you're a CPA and you already have a professional relationship with some of the agents.

[Gailete]

Yep, and an IRS letter in the mail LOOKS like an IRS letter! I discovered that PA tax folks have the same kind when I got one last month. Mine was happy news to say they were sending me more than my tax return had shown when submitted. They paid me interest on the estimated payments we had made and got it all back so got $7 extra!