This morning, this editor answered a long-distance phone call without looking at Caller ID. She should have looked. It was from a 202 area code, which is Washington, D.C., but the caller was Unknown.

The recording was extremely scratchy, but a woman's voice, with a strong accent, could be heard in bits and pieces. She said something like the IRS has a fraud case with your social security number on it. She repeated to call a number to straighten this out.

This was obviously a scam. The number was not understandable under the scratchiness, but the editor later talked to an IRS media fellow in the Phoenix Office on another matter. When he heard the story, he suggested the best plan of action was to visit www.tigta.gov.

If you are taken in by the scam or fraud and have paid the scammers money, you may report it on this same site.

This article is on the site:

J. Russell George Urges Taxpayers to Be on "High Alert" to Phone Fraud Scam
TIGTA Reminds Taxpayers to Beware of Calls from IRS Impersonators this Filing Season
End of press release title Start of press release content
WASHINGTON - As the 2015 tax filing season begins, the Treasury Inspector General for Taxpayer Administration (TIGTA) is reminding taxpayers to beware of phone calls from individuals claiming to represent the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in an effort to defraud them.

"It is critical that all taxpayers continue to be wary of unsolicited telephone calls from individuals claiming to be IRS employees," said J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. "This scam, which is international in nature, has proven to be the largest scam of its kind that we have ever seen. The callers are aggressive, they are relentless and they are ruthless," he said. "Once they have your attention, they will say anything to con you out of your hard-earned cash," George added.

TIGTA has received reports of roughly 290,000 contacts since October 2013 and has become aware of nearly 3,000 victims who have collectively paid over $14 million as a result of the scam, in which individuals make unsolicited calls to taxpayers fraudulently claiming to be IRS officials and demanding that they send them cash via prepaid debit cards.

"The increasing number of people not only receiving but accepting these unsolicited calls from individuals who fraudulently claim to represent the IRS is alarming," George said. "At all times, and particularly during the tax filing season, we want to make sure that innocent taxpayers are alert to this scam so they are not harmed by these criminals," he said, adding, "Do not become a victim."

"This is a crime of opportunity, so the best thing you can do to protect yourself is to take away the opportunity," the Inspector General added. "Do not engage with these callers. If they call you, hang up the telephone."

Inspector General George noted that the scam has hit taxpayers in every State in the country. Callers claiming to be from the IRS tell intended victims they owe taxes and must pay using a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer. The scammers threaten those who refuse to pay with immediate arrest, deportation or loss of a business or driver's license.

The IRS usually first contacts people by mail - not by phone - about unpaid taxes. And the IRS won't ask for payment using a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer. The IRS also won't ask for a credit card number over the phone.
"If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and uses threatening language if you don't pay immediately, that is a sign that it really isn't the IRS calling," George said.

The callers who commit this fraud often:

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