The IRS reminds taxpayers to guard against all sorts of con games that arise at any time and pick up during tax season. WASHINGTON -Aggressive and threatening phone calls by criminals impersonating IRS agents remain a major threat to taxpayers, remain on the annual "Dirty Dozen" list of tax scams for the 2017 filing season, the Internal Revenue Service announced today.ĭuring filing season, the IRS generally sees a surge in scam phone calls that threaten police arrest, deportation, license revocation and other things. Security Summit Identity Theft Tips Overview– English Last, consider paying for one of the best identity-theft-protection services, which will alert to you to identity theft and help you recover from it.Phone Scams a Serious Threat Remain on the IRS “Dirty Dozen” List of Tax Scams for 2017 Second, if you're not about to buy a new house or new car, consider instituting credit freezes with the Big Three. If you provided personal information such as your date of birth or Social Security number, you'll need to get proactive.įirst, follow our instructions on how to set up a fraud alert with the Big Three credit-reporting agencies. Nevertheless, you should still file a report with the FBI's own Internet Crime Complaint Center. Your chances of getting money back depends how you paid the "fine." Regular credit cards give you the best chance prepaid cards and gift cards are more like cash, but call the card issuer anyway.Īs for cryptocurrency, wire transfers to overseas banks or cash, those are usually gone the moment they leave your hands. If you end up falling for one of these scams, your recovery options are unfortunately limited. Never give personally identifying information to anyone without verifying the person is who they say they are." What to do if you fall for a government impersonator If it's a more urgent matter, law enforcement officers will come visit you at your home or workplace in a manner friendly or otherwise.Īs the FBI says in the advisory, "NO legitimate law enforcement or government official will request payment via prepaid cards or cryptocurrency ATM. You may or may not get a letter notifying you that your driver's license needs to be renewed, depending on the state. If it's a routine matter, you will get a letter notifying you that you have missed jury duty, need to appear in court or owe back taxes. Overall, you need to remember that the government notifies citizens by snail mail or in person. The FBI didn't provide further details on that, but it's likely that the text messages would include links that take you to phishing pages mocked up to look like official forms in which you'll be asked to provide your name, date of birth, address, Social Security number and so on. The FBI also warned that scammers might send text messages to mobile phones notifying phone users that their passports or drivers' licenses need to be renewed. This scam also isn't terribly different from the "Social Security" scam in which a caller tells you your identity has been stolen and to verify your identity over the phone. Those just happen to be the four factors with which you can steal someone's identity. In these cases, you're often asked to pay a fine using the methods above.Īnother variant involves being told that someone has committed a crime using your name - and that to clear yourself, you have to tell the caller your full name, address, date of birth and Social Security number. If you receive one of these calls, the FBI said, you may be told that you have failed to report for jury duty, that you have missed a court date, that there is a warrant out for your arrest or that you owe taxes.
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