Dear tellows’ friends,
The IRS scam is frustrating, but we would like to inform you about the tax scam season again. It is back, and the scammers are continuously trying new methods. In 2019 the total loss of tax preparers reported to FTC is amounted to $7.3M with a median loss of $518, and the top contact method by scammers is by phone. How do we protect ourselves from the scammers?
Before showing you what precaution we can do against the tax scammers, let’s have a look at the top comments related to tax scam on tellows in the last couple weeks.
Number: 8668070010
tellows score: 9 | 14th Jan 2020 | Caller Name: Doris Evans
User Brandon: “Claimed that I owed back taxes and wanted to talk me through how to deal with that.”
Number: 5026010183
tellows score: 9 | 10th Jan 2020
User: “Caller called and said they were going to garnish my checks and taxes if i didnt set up or pay off an old account i owed for back in 2005.”
Number: 8553050868
tellows score: 9 | 4th Jan 2020
User Ariel Howard: “Call about taxes and being behind in taxes.”
To conclude the three comments above, it shows that scammers tend to claim that people are behind in or own back taxes. But of course this is not the only way how the scammer do it. If you receive an unknown call and the caller say one of the following lines, then you should hang up and report them.
“Your Social Security Number will be canceled if you don’t settle overdue taxes”
Fact: IRS do not suspend or cancel SSN. If you do owe taxes, please call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040.
“We are from the Bureau of Tax Enforcement and…”
Fact: Bureau of Tax Enforcement does not exist.
“The police will come after you if you don’t cooperate or call us back”
Fact: IRS never leave prerecorded voicemails, also they cannot revoke your driver’s license, business licenses, or immigration status.
“We are calling from the Taxpayer Advocate Service and need your information for large tax refund”
Fact: Taxpayer Advocate Service is a valid organization to help people with IRS problem, however, scammers are using this opportunity to scam victim by telling them they are entitled to a large tax refund.
“We are from the IRS and you have to pay your overdue tax immediately, by gift card or wire payment”
Fact: IRS never demand an immediate payment and do not use payment method such as gift card or wire payment.
We hope the hints above are helpful! If you receive any unknown call similar to the above, please:
1. Report it to the IRS or FTC. If you wish to read more about your rights as a taxpayer, please check out the taxpayer Bill of Rights.
2. You can also warn the other about the tax scammer by leaving rating on tellows. The tellows app is an excellent caller ID and call blocker, offers free number look up and latest news about phone scam.
Your tellows team
