Protect Yourself From IRS Scam Calls
Protect Yourself From IRS Scam Calls Javascript must be enabled to use this site. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try again. × Search search POPULAR SEARCHES SUGGESTED LINKS Join AARP for just $9 per year when you sign up for a 5-year term. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Leaving AARP.org Website You are now leaving AARP.org and going to a website that is not operated by AARP. A different privacy policy and terms of service will apply. Close
How to Tell if You’re the Target of an IRS Scam The IRS says impostors are increasingly turning to to broaden their reach, with automated messages requesting a call back to resolve a supposed tax problem. Scammers also deploy often targeting college students, faculty and staff members with .edu addresses, the IRS and Federal Trade Commission warn. The emails, with IRS logos and subject lines like "Tax Refund Payment," link to a website that asks for personal data such as Social Security and driver's license numbers to facilitate the "refund."
An email purporting to be from the IRS links to a website where you're asked to provide personal and financial information to facilitate or calculate a tax refund.
IRS Impostor Scam
Some brazen scammers rip off unwary taxpayers by impersonating agents of the Internal Revenue Service. They’ll call and insist you have an unpaid tax bill and face arrest unless you pay up, immediately. From October 2013 through March 2021, the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration logged more than 2.5 million reports of from IRS impersonators, with some 16,000 victims collectively losing more than $82.6 million. Get instant access to members-only products and hundreds of discounts, a free second membership, and a subscription to AARP the Magazine. Con artists have numerous ways to make the hoax seem convincing. They can trick a caller ID to make it appear that the call is coming from an actual IRS office. They may even know part of the mark’s Social Security number. One massive, years-long fraud scheme, eventually busted by federal authorities, saw call centers in India use information from data brokers to find potential marks, whom they contacted and scared into making payments to co-conspirators in the United States. Older Americans were among the prime targets. Two dozen U.S.-based participants have been convicted and sentenced to prison terms of up to 20 years, according to the Justice Department.How to Tell if You’re the Target of an IRS Scam The IRS says impostors are increasingly turning to to broaden their reach, with automated messages requesting a call back to resolve a supposed tax problem. Scammers also deploy often targeting college students, faculty and staff members with .edu addresses, the IRS and Federal Trade Commission warn. The emails, with IRS logos and subject lines like "Tax Refund Payment," link to a website that asks for personal data such as Social Security and driver's license numbers to facilitate the "refund."
Warning Signs
It’s a phone call. The IRS communicates mostly through the mail, including in cases of delinquent taxes. It will generally make contact by phone or in person only after a taxpayer has received multiple written notices. The pretend IRS official demands immediate payment and threatens to call police and have you arrested — things the actual tax agency never does.An email purporting to be from the IRS links to a website where you're asked to provide personal and financial information to facilitate or calculate a tax refund.