Hi, everyone! It’s Jenny from Vision Tax Co.
There is a new twist on the IRS impersonation phone scam whereby criminals make fake calls from the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS), an independent organization within the IRS.
Like other IRS impersonation scams, thieves make unsolicited phone calls to their intended victims and fraudulently claim to be from the IRS. In this most recent scam variation, callers “spoof” the telephone number of the IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service office in Houston or Brooklyn.
Calls may be ‘robo-calls’ that request a callback. Once the taxpayer returns the call, the con artist requests personal information, including Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN).
In other variations of the IRS impersonation phone scam, fraudsters demand immediate payment of taxes by a prepaid debit card or wire transfer. The callers are often hostile and abusive.
Taxpayers who are targeted by the IRS phone scam or any IRS impersonation scam 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.”
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