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Britt Erica Tunick is an award winning financial journalist who has spent the past 17 years writing about virtually every aspect of finance. She has mastered the art of boiling down complicated financial topics for readers to understand. |
Do not ever give your information to anyone over the phone claiming to be from the IRS IRS Scam: The IRS Will Probably NEVER Call You Directly By Britt Erica Tunick If there is one thing virtually everyone dreads it is the prospect of being contacted by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regarding a tax payment discrepancy or the prospect of an audit something the individuals behind a new phone scam have counted on to successfully bilk people out of millions of dollars. While rampant misspellings and often ludicrous content often make it easy to identify the slew of random e-mails you’ve more than likely received from attorneys in England looking to bestow upon you the fortune of the long-lost relative you were unaware you had, to overseas businessmen who simply need your help wiring their fortune out of their country. But a call to your home or mobile phone from someone who knows your name, address and possibly even the last four digits of your social security number, is not necessarily dismissed as quickly. But it should be! If the IRS is going to contact you for any reason, they will initially do so by mail or through correspondence with your accountant or attorney. Legitimate IRS employees would also never ask you to wire money or provide your credit card or pre-paid card details on the spot, or threaten you if you do not provide such information. And don’t be fooled by the number on your caller ID it isn’t necessarily the number someone is calling you from. Sophisticated software known as caller ID spoofing programs now allow people to disguise the real number they are calling from and replace it with any number they input into their computer meaning the number coming into your caller ID that matches the IRS’ own number may actually be coming from anywhere in the world. So far, individuals involved in this scam have managed to intimidate worried call recipients into paying in excess of $5 million, according to the IRS and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. And with such sophisticated tactics, that number is only likely to increase. But being aware of this scam is the best defense. There are also a few things you should keep in mind anytime you receive an unexpected call regarding payment for something, or a query about your finances or personal information that doesn’t sound quite right. Following are a few tips regarding the IRS scam, as well as any other suspicious calls you may receive:
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