The IRS has alerted taxpayers that there is a new twist on an old phone scam. Criminals are using telephone numbers that mimic IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TAC) to trick taxpayers into paying fake tax bills. Scam artists have programmed their computers to display the TAC telephone number, which appears on your caller ID when the call comes through. If you question their demand for tax payment, the scammers direct you to IRS.gov to look up the local TAC office telephone number to verify the phone number. The crooks hang up, wait a short time, then call back a second time with a fake or "spoof" caller ID that appears to come from an IRS office. After you have verifiedthe call number, the fraudsters resume their demands for money, often demanding you pay them with a debit card. ursuant to their policy, IRS employees at TAC offices never call taxpayers to demand payment of overdue tax bills. Nor does the IRS ever:
If you who receive the IRS phone scam or any IRS impersonation scam, you should report it to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at its IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting site and to the IRS by emailing phishing@irs.gov with the subject line "IRS Phone Scam."
Stay alert to scams that use the IRS as a lure. Tax scams can happen any time of year, not just at tax time. For more information visit Tax Scams and Consumer Alerts on IRS.gov.