Do not give out any information and hang up immediately.If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and you still aren’t sure if it’s a scam or not, here’s what the IRS says you should do: Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card, gift card or wire transfer.Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.Threaten to immediately bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.Call to demand immediate payment over the phone, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.So to protect your information and your money, here are some things to keep in mind! So when you think about a caller claiming to be from the IRS threatening someone with jail time if they don’t pay up immediately, it’s a little easier to understand how a person could be fooled into putting thousands of dollars on an iTunes gift card to pay back the IRS - which is another scam that’s been making the rounds. With any IRS scam, the criminals use extremely intimidating and aggressive tactics to convince people to hand over money. While IRS scams are carried out in a variety of ways, there are a few guidelines to keep in mind in order to help protect yourself. Read more: Beware of Social Security scam that will steal your money How to protect yourself This IRS says the type of notice scammers are using is usually several pages long, so another thing to remember if you receive this type of letter in the mail. and sent to the “Austin Processing Center” at a post office box. Lists the letter number in the payment voucher as 105C.Says the issue is related to the Affordable Care Act and requests information regarding 2014 coverage.Appears to be issued from an Austin, Texas, address.Here are a few warning signs that a notice ‘from the IRS’ is fake: However, the IRS says there are ways for potential victims to spot and avoid fake notices demanding payment. Typically, the way to spot this type of scam is knowing that the IRS will never communicate this information via email - but since the notices are coming through as actual paper mail, that no longer applies. What makes this scam different from other IRS scams is that the notices are being sent via email - as well as through the mail. Taxpayers without proper health coverage have to pay a penalty, so of course scammers jumped on the opportunity as a way to sound legit to a vulnerable consumer.Īccording to the IRS, criminals across the country are sending fraudulent versions of CP2000 notices for tax year 2015, which are letters that inform taxpayers about discrepancies on their tax return.Īs the tax scams start to ramp up this season, taxpayers should beware of the same notices marked for tax year 2016! ![]() What the new scam looks likeĪccording to a warning issued by the IRS, the fake notices typically ask the person who received the letter to pay a balance they owe in connection with Affordable Care Act health coverage for 2014. The IRS does send notices like this through the mail, asking for payments or other updated information that needs to be verified, but the problem is that scammers have made it almost impossible for consumers to tell the difference between a real IRS letter and a fake one. People are receiving notices that look exactly like legitimate letters from the IRS - asking for payment based on information that the letter claims doesn’t match other records on file that were reported to the IRS by a third party, such as interest on some type of financial account. The new scam involves fake tax bills tied to the Affordable Care Act, and there are a couple of different versions making the rounds. A new IRS scam to watch out for this tax season Criminals are constantly finding new ways to con Americans out of money, and the latest attempt involves thieves claiming to be from the IRS.Īnd while IRS scams have been around for years, fraudsters are carrying them out in new and different ways every day - so it’s crucial for consumers to stay up to date on how to avoid these scams and how to protect themselves.
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