It can be by phone, email, social media, or regular ‘snail’ mail. With the popularity of social media, the precautions of avoiding Internet scammers have been broadcasted throughout the world. With all the warnings about catfishing and other online scams, some have forgotten that the good old-fashion phone scams still exists. Scam artists will target their victims anyway they can, disguising themselves with a random alias or even as a government official targeting taxpayers and new immigrants.

Now that almost everyone owns a private cellphone with the option to block telemarketers and solicitors, it used to be that the treat of a phone scam was a thing of the past. Not so.

The Art of Scamming

Scam artists are just that—artists! This means they creatively find ways to do something differently—unconventional even, including gaining access to your private phone number. According to the Internal Revenue Service(IRS) there have been telephone scams with con artists posing as one of their representatives. They even provide badge numbers in order to present themselves as official US government workers. These criminals have even found a way to manipulate your caller I.D. to read “IRS” or “Internal Revenue Service.” 

Types of IRS Phone Scams Reported 

These IRS phone scammers will have a significant amount of information about you in order to make you believe that they are legit. However, it is important to remember that with the use of social media and everything else being electronic, scammers can also hack into these databases to retrieve sensitive information about you. 

The IRS Phone Scammers Has 3 Agendas: 

1. Demanding Payment –The imposter will inform you that you owe the IRS money and demand immediate payment through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. This demand is accompanied with threats of an arrest, incarceration, suspension of driver’s license and deportation. 

2. Request to Claim Refund– Some scammers find it easier to steal money by extracting private information like a social security number and bank account numbers. They attain this by tricking you into believing that you are due a refund and in order to claim it, you’ll have to give them certain information about yourself. Don’t do it! 

3. Urgent Callback Message –This is the last alternative. If you don’t answer their call, they may leave an urgent message informing you to call back as soon as possible…or else. 

Ways to Identify a Phone Scam 

Educate yourself on recent scam reports. If you receive a phone call from the IRS and are skeptical about whether or not it’s legit, do some research. Go online and find out if there have been any recent IRS scams. You can also verify the caller’s identity. Even though he or she may provide you with a name and an identification number, take that information and call the IRS hotline to verify if the information that person has given you. Even if that person provides you with a number, don’t call it back. Call  the official IRS customer service number at 1-800-829-1040 anytime between Monday – Friday, from 7am – 7pm. 

Understanding Official IRS Procedures 

It also helps to understand official IRS procedures. We realize that you may want to focus your attention on other things. That’s why here at Success Tax Relief, we offer to do the job for you. We have over 30 years of combined experience negotiating with the IRS and resolving any tax issues on our customer’s behalf. If you are interested in learning how to better protect yourself against IRS scams, call us today at  877-825-1179 or schedule a consultation with us online now!