{"id":435,"date":"2016-03-14T11:45:47","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T16:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cookco.us\/news\/?p=435"},"modified":"2016-03-14T11:58:43","modified_gmt":"2016-03-14T16:58:43","slug":"scammers-change-tactics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/scammers-change-tactics\/","title":{"rendered":"Scammers Change Tactics, Once Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aggressive and threatening phone calls by criminals impersonating IRS agents remain a major threat to taxpayers, but now we\u00a0are receiving new reports of scammers calling under the guise of verifying tax return information over the phone.<\/h2>\n
\"impersonating
Impersonating IRS on Phone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The latest variation being seen in the last few weeks tries to play off the current tax season. Scam artists call saying they have your tax return, and they just need to verify a few details to process your return. The scam tries to get you to give up personal information such as a Social Security number or personal financial information, such as bank numbers or credit cards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese schemes continue to adapt and evolve in an attempt to catch people off guard just as they are preparing their tax returns,\u201d said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. \u201cDon\u2019t be fooled. The IRS won\u2019t be calling you out of the blue asking you to verify your personal tax information or aggressively threatening you to make an immediate payment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The IRS reminds taxpayers to guard against all sorts of con games that continually change. The IRS, the states and the tax industry came together in 2015 and launched a public awareness campaign called Taxes, Security, Together, to help educate taxpayers about the need to maintain security online and to recognize and avoid \u201cphishing\u201d and other schemes.<\/p>\n

We continue to hear reports of phone scams as well as e-mail phishing schemes across the country. \u201cThese schemes touch people in every part of the country and in every walk of life. It\u2019s a growing list of people who\u2019ve encountered these. I\u2019ve even gotten these calls myself,\u201d said IRS Commissioner Koskinen.<\/p>\n

This January, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) announced they have received reports of roughly 896,000 phone scam contacts since October 2013 and have become aware of over 5,000 victims who have collectively paid over $26.5 million as a result of the scam. Just this year, the IRS has seen a 400 percent increase in phishing schemes.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Protect Yourself<\/h3>\n

\"computerScammers make unsolicited calls claiming to be IRS officials. They demand that the victim pay a bogus tax bill. They con the victim into sending cash, usually through a prepaid debit card or wire transfer. They may also leave \u201curgent\u201d callback requests through phone \u201crobo-calls,\u201d or via a phishing email. They\u2019ve even begun politely asking taxpayers to verify their identity over the phone.<\/p>\n

Many phone scams use threats to intimidate and bully a victim into paying. They may even threaten to arrest, deport or revoke the license of their victim if they don\u2019t get the money.<\/p>\n

Scammers often alter caller ID numbers to make it look like the IRS or another agency is calling. The callers use IRS titles and fake badge numbers to appear legitimate. They may use the victim\u2019s name, address and other personal information to make the call sound official.<\/p>\n

Here are some things the scammers often do but the IRS will not do. Any one of these five things is a tell-tale sign of a scam.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The IRS will never:<\/strong>
\n\u2022\u00a0Call to demand immediate payment over the phone, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you several bills.<\/strong>
\n\u2022\u00a0Call or email you to verify your identity by asking for personal and financial information.<\/strong>
\n\u2022\u00a0Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.<\/strong>
\n\u2022\u00a0Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.<\/strong>
\n\u2022\u00a0Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone or email.<\/strong>
\n\u2022\u00a0Threaten to immediately bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aggressive and threatening phone calls by criminals impersonating IRS agents remain a major threat to taxpayers, but now we\u00a0are receiving new reports of scammers calling under the guise of verifying tax return information over the phone. The latest variation being seen in the last few weeks tries to play off the current tax season. Scam […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2016-03-17T16:38:02Z","apple_news_api_id":"3343908e-65bc-4e6b-9fad-30b4b53ed466","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2016-03-17T16:38:02Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AM0OQjmW8TmufrTC0tT7UZg","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-irs-phone-scam"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}