This Tax Season Look Out For These New “IRS” Scams!
We all have received that email from the Nigerian Prince (good old days) and it was easy to tell that it was a scam: it was too good to be true and full of grammatical mistakes. Nowadays scammers have improved their work and sometime it is hard to tell if they are real or not: instead of offering you millions of dollars for free, they threat you that if you do not pay them, you will end up in jail; instead of pretending to be a Nigerian Prince, the impersonate IRS or other government agencies’ agents; and they have taken some English classes and their communications have much less mistakes!
For this tax season the IRS has warned the taxpayers of two relatively new scams: the SSN scheme and the Fake Tax Agency scheme.
For this tax season the IRS has warned the taxpayers of two relatively new scams: the SSN scheme and the Fake Tax Agency scheme.
The Social Security (SSN) Scheme
The scammers usually give you a call, pretending to be from the Social Security, and ask you verify your name and social security number. They usually say that there is a problem with your SSN and if you do not resolve it right away, they will suspend or cancel your social security number (it happened to me last week). The scammers might mention overdue tax payments, lien or levy on your bank account, etc.
The Fake Tax Agency Scheme
The scammers send a letter, with a logo similar to that of the IRS, which involves threats such as lien or levy based on some bogus overdue tax payment. These letters are coming from a non-existent agency called “Bureau of Tax Enforcement”: There is no such an agency!
What Should You Do?
If you received a call from the “IRS” you can simply hang up since the IRS NEVER calls people and always corresponds via mail. If you want to have fun with the scammer and waste their time, you can stay on the phone and pretend that you are scared and want to resolve the issue right away and give them wrong information (wrong social security number, etc.)
If you received a letter and it was from “fake” agencies, you can simply disregard the letter. If you are not sure whether the letter is from scammers or is actually from the IRS, please contact us and we will help you resolve any tax notice from the IRS and make sure you won’t fall victim to the “fake IRS” notice scam.
If you received a letter and it was from “fake” agencies, you can simply disregard the letter. If you are not sure whether the letter is from scammers or is actually from the IRS, please contact us and we will help you resolve any tax notice from the IRS and make sure you won’t fall victim to the “fake IRS” notice scam.