You answer the phone.
“Hello Mr. Smith,
this is Bob Jones, special revenue collection agent for the Internal Revenue
Service. I am calling about a serious tax delinquency matter.”
Uh-oh.
“Mr. Smith, there
are delinquency problems with your 2010 and 2011 federal income tax returns. We
have a special program to resolve these matters, and if you cooperate with me
for just a few minutes we can solve the problem today.”
This has your
attention. But it is a scam.
How do we know?
The Internal Revenue
Service never makes an initial contact via telephone. Taxpayers are always
contacted by correspondence (there may be a few extreme exceptions but those
are very, very rare). The correspondence gives detailed information and calculations and a legitimate call
back number.
When you
talk to someone from the IRS on the telephone, you should have initiated the call in
response to some form of correspondence. And besides, the IRS does not have
“special revenue collection agents” and you may notice Bob Jones has a very
thick foreign accent.
“Bob Jones” will
probably offer to settle the delinquency at an extreme discount, IF you give
him bank account or credit card information or some form of payment today.
NEVER GIVE BANK OR
CREDIT CARD INFORMATION IN THIS SITUATION. NEVER RUN OUT AND BUY A PREPAID VISA CARD OR GREEN DOT CARD.
What do you do?
Ask for a call
back number and tell Bob Jones your CPA will call him back.
Or ask for a call
back number and tell Bob Jones your son will call when he finishes his shift
with the state police.
Or ask for a call
back number and tell Bob Jones your attorney will be calling him.
Or ask for an
employee identification number and tell him you will call the IRS 800 number.
Bob Jones may not
give up, and may get very aggressive.
Hang up the phone.
Hang up the phone.
