Lynette Norris: Greene Publishing, Inc.
It’s more like they never really went away. Tax season may be over for now, but the phony phone callers pretending to be IRS agents are still going strong. Since the Fall of 2013, more than 10,300 victims of IRS impersonation scams have paid more than $55 million to IRS impersonators.
Many consumers are amazed that people still fall for this scam after four years of warnings trumpeted over the news media; but the persistent, professional-sounding and often threatening tone still catches victims, mostly college students and senior citizens, off guard.
The scammers have also got a few tricks up their sleeves to throw their victims for a loop. They may know bits and pieces of personal data about their victims, such as the last four digits of their social security number, and they can spoof the Washington, D.C. area code (202) on the victim’s Caller ID, a trick they’ve been using for ages.
They’re also very adaptable, keeping the con going by sounding as legit and up-to-date as possible.
For example, after numerous media warnings about the IRS impersonators, advising the public that the real IRS never cold-calls taxpayers and will always send letters first, the latest scammers have begun telling their victims that not one, but two certified letters had already been sent, and were returned as “undeliverable.” Strike one…strike two…you’re on strike three and your time is running out.
Scammers also stay on top of, and take advantage of, any new collection methods the IRS rolls out. For example, this past April, when the IRS announced that it would begin using outside debt collectors on a limited basis, some worried that scammers would start swooping in, pretending to be the private debt collector. Again, the first contact in this situation will always be from the IRS itself, warning the taxpayer that he or she will soon be dealing with a private debt collector. They will receive a letter and pamphlet entitled Publication 4518: What You Can Expect When the IRS Assigns Your Account to a Private Collection Agency.
The scammers may reference other legitimate services such as the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, a service that has been around since 1996 and allows taxpayers to make scheduled, automatic payments from their bank accounts to the IRS. Demanding immediate payment, scammers tell victims the prepaid card will be linked to the IRS’ electronic system to pay their “bill,” when actually, nothing of the sort will happen. The scammer will take the money and run. In a real IRS situation, the IRS agent will be happy to explain the EFTPS, and even help schedule payments, but the IRS will never demand that anyone use the system or any other particular method of payment. That decision is up to the taxpayer.
In fact, that brings up one of the biggest red flags that signal a scam: a phony IRS agent demanding immediate payment, usually with some kind of prepaid card. Prepaid debit cards or gift cards such as Apple iTunes gift cards, Target gift cards, wire transfers, Western Union payments or MoneyGram payments all allow the scammer immediate access to the money and time for a quick getaway. By the time the victim realizes he/she has been scammed, the money and the scammer are long gone.
To check on the legitimacy of anyone claiming you owe the IRS money, contact the IRS Customer Service line at 1 (800) 829-1040, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. To file a complaint about a scammer, go to www.treasury.gov/tigta. Treasury Inspector J. Russell George told a congressional committee in May the agency will be closely monitoring incoming complaints about IRS impersonators, especially those concerning the private collection program.