Thursday, August 14, 2014

The IRS is after me!

I am getting calls from the IRS on my cell phone. The calls are coming from a number in the 202 area code, which is the area code for Washington DC. I don't answer calls from numbers I don't recognize, so the the callers have left messages. After first hearing the message, I immediately panicked! Did I forget to file something? Did the IRS decide to audit me? But listening to the message, something about it did not ring true. The woman was speaking very slowly and although she identified herself with a very non-foreign sounding name, her accent did not quite match her name. Also, it sounded like she was reading from a script and she used wording which did not sound genuine: "Do return the call before we take any legal allegation against you". What's a legal allegation?

I have gotten additional calls, and the script is the slightly different, but all the callers talk about vague legal threats and action against me. Often there is background noise on the calls which makes it a little hard to hear. Often, the callers have foreign accents (although there is no reason someone with an accent can't really be working for the IRS).

These calls are all SCAMS! This is a known scam which seems to be happening throughout the USA. The Federal Trade Commission has a web page about the scam here: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/fake-irs-collectors-are-calling.

So what should you do about it when you receive a call from someone purporting to be from the IRS? Hang up! The IRS will not just call you out of the blue. They will send you a notice in the mail which will indicate how much money they think you owe and why they think you owe it. This notice will invite you to call them to discuss the matter. Unless you are already working with an IRS employee who might call you back, the IRS will not be calling you. They will not tell you that you can pay your bill on the phone with a credit card.

If you have any doubt about the call, you should call the IRS at 800-829-1040. Ask them if they are trying to reach you and whether there is any open notice sent to you.

These calls make me sad. It is very likely that people are really being duped by the callers and paying money to these thieves. I tried reporting the calls to my local police department, but they did not seem very interested. The best thing you can do is to hang up. Don't ask any questions. Certainly don't give out any personal information (not even you name) and hang the phone up!

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