Reports of IRS Phone Calls Prompts Scam Warning

Nearly a dozen calls from residents today alone about unsolicited calls from the IRS prompts the Ocean County Prosecutors Office to issue a warning about telephone scams. They urge you to immediately hang up on people demanding payment for taxes to the IRS and never give credit, debit or prepaid card information over the telephone.

"Taxpayers should remember their first contact with the IRS will not be a call from out of the blue, but through official correspondence sent through the mail," according to a press release from the prosecutor's office. It goes on to say that "a big red flag for these scams are angry, threatening calls fro people who say they are from the IRS and urging immediate payment. This is not how the IRS operates."

Important Things For Taxpayers to Know about the IRS:

• Never asks for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the telephone.
• Never insists that taxpayers use a specific payment method to pay tax obligations.
• Never request immediate payment over the telephone and will not take enforcement action immediately following a phone conversation. Taxpayers usually receive prior notification of IRS enforcement action involving IRS tax liens or levies.
• Potential phone scam victims may be told that they owe money that must be paid immediately to the IRS or they are entitled to big refunds. When unsuccessful the first time, sometimes phone scammers call back trying a new strategy.

Other Characteristics of These Scams Include:

• Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
• Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim's Social Security number.
• Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it's the IRS calling.
• Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.
• Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.
• After threatening victims with jail time or driver's license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.

If You Get a Phone Call From Someone Claiming to be From The IRS, Here's What You Should Do:

If you know you ow taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS AT 1-800-829-1040. The employees at that line can help you with a payment issue, if there really is such an issue.

If you know you don't owe taxes or have no reason to think that you own any taxes (for example, you've never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) at 1-800-366-4484.

"Based on 90,000 complaints that the TIGTA has received through its telephone hotline, they've identified approximately 1,100 victims who have lost an estimated $5 million dollars from this scam," according to the written statement. For more information or to report a scam, go to www.irs.gov and type "scam" in the search box. The IRS also has additional information about scams at the www.irs.gov website.