5093315212

Informational post:

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today warned consumers about a sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, throughout the country.

Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be paid promptly through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. If the victim refuses to cooperate, they are then threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver’s license. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting.

“This scam has hit taxpayers in nearly every state in the country.  We want to educate taxpayers so they can help protect themselves.  Rest assured, we do not and will not ask for credit card numbers over the phone, nor request a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer,” says IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel. “If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and threatens police arrest, deportation or license revocation if you don’t pay immediately, that is a sign that it really isn’t the IRS calling.” Werfel noted that the first IRS contact with taxpayers on a tax issue is likely to occur via mail

Other characteristics of this scam include:

   Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
   Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security Number.
   Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling.
   Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.
   Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.
   After threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:

   If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue – if there really is such an issue.
   If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, you’ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484.
   If you’ve been targeted by this scam, you should also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov.  Please add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments of your complaint.

Taxpayers should be aware that there are other unrelated scams (such as a lottery sweepstakes) and solicitations (such as debt relief) that fraudulently claim to be from the IRS.

The IRS encourages taxpayers to be vigilant against phone and email scams that use the IRS as a lure. The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information.  This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels. The IRS also does not ask for PINs, passwords or similar confidential access information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts. Recipients should not open any attachments or click on any links contained in the message. Instead, forward the e-mail tophishing@irs.gov.

More information on how to report phishing scams involving the IRS is available on the genuine IRS website, IRS.gov.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Reiterate ... -Telephone-Scam

I got a pre recorded  message on my answering machine saying that the IRS is going to file a lawsuit against me and to call the number back at 509 331-5212. But I checked here first I have been called by other numbers before and they were scams. I plan on disregarding this call.

I received the call as well...plan on disregarding! Don't people have anything better to do?? Really?

A Web User reported 1-509-331-5212 "This number called with automated voice identifying them as IRS. They were filing a lawsuit against me. I needed to call them back.  Unfortunately I did call back. This guy had an accent and acted like he didnt know what was going on.  This is a scam the IRS does not work like this.

Most of these calls are coming from India and Pakistan. It is a extortion scam by thieves.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Tax-Scams-Consumer-Alerts
http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report.shtml
https://800notes.com/forum/ta-8c2f64bf2b91fa5/irs-warns-of-telephone-scam

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4b849c65e54346 ... leader-irs-scam

Report the Calls to the real IRS here:
•report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 800-366-4484.
•You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov. Add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments in your complaint.

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Do consider getting a call blocking device or phone.. You can google them and many are around $40.00 or so.If its a cell phone, some already have call blocking, if not, there are free apps on the web that will work for some. You can google this. If you have a smart phone, there is a free app called call control. Iphones appear to have apps also. Another one is called Mr. Number.

For tracfone & straight talk:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.privacystar.android.tracfone&hl=en
http://extras.straighttalk.com/en
http://www.youmail.com/home/carriers/straight-talk/block-number
https://www.straighttalkwirelessforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=6803&t=55006

These callers are terrorists.  They called at 6:00am and woke me out of a sound sleep.  I feel like phone service providers are complicit in these calls.  They should be required to suspend service from these phone numbers after they have received information about these callers.  This kind of fraud should be prosecuted.

I got the same call as others.  They r trying to hack ur sim card number then they run up a huge bill.  Do not give them any info

I just received an automated call stating that this was my final notice and that a lawsuit is being filed against me by the IRS. The message told me to call their department number at 509 331-5212 for more information.