Telephone scams have been on the “Dirty Dozen” list of the IRS for some time now. The following adage is true, where there is a will, there is a way, and each year unscrupulous individuals seem to find ways to use a telephone and other scams to bilk unsuspecting individuals out of thousands and thousands of dollars. So, how do the scammers pull this off? To make it easier for you to understand, I will break things down in story form. Every story consists of five essential elements, the characters, the setting, the plot, the conflict, and the resolution.

Characters: The criminals (scammers) and the taxpayer.

Setting: For the scammer, the person is likely calling from a boiler room type setting, possibly located on the other side of the world. For you, the scammer randomly calls you on your home or cell phone.

Plot: Somehow criminals get a hold of your telephone number, and maybe other personal information, such as your address, and social security number. He or she calls the taxpayer, pretending to be an agent from the IRS from a number that may possibly show up on the caller ID as being an IRS number. During the call, the scammers will be aggressive and threatening. Informing the taxpayer that they owe money to the IRS, demanding immediate payment. They will typically request that the payment be made by a specific method, such as using a prepaid debit card. The threat is that if the payment isn’t made immediately, the taxpayer will be arrested or be sued by the IRS. For some, the mere mention of the IRS is threatening enough. The thought of being arrested or sued by the IRS adds an intensified level of fear for most people, especially elderly people, who are seemingly the niche target for these scammers.

Conflict: For the scammer, the conflict is whether his or her tactics will be convincing enough to scare the taxpayer into paying the amount of money they are requesting. For the taxpayer, the conflict is determining whether the call is legitimate or not.

Resolution: For the scammer, if his or her tactics are convincing enough, the taxpayer will follow the instructions of the caller and pay the amount being requested. For the taxpayer, the resolution would be to do their due diligence and contact the IRS directly by calling 1-800-829-1040 (IRS Customer Service) or to request your tax account transcripts to find out if you owe any taxes. Tax Account and other transcripts can be requested online, via telephone, or by mail. To request the transcripts online: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/get-transcript, to request by phone: 800-908- 9946, and to request by mail, use the form 4506-T: https:// www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f4506t.pdf. You should know if you owe taxes or not. If you know that you don’t owe taxes and receive one of these calls, then that call is a scam. Don’t provide any personal information and hang up immediately. Some scammers are persistent and may call back a few times. If they do call back, simply hang up. Eventually, they will get tired of calling you and move on to the next unsuspecting individual. Note that the IRS does not do the following:

• Demand immediate payment;
• Call you prior to sending you a bill first.
• Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say that you owe;
• Require a specific payment method such as a random debit or other prepaid types of card;
• Ask you for your social security number, credit or debit card information over the telephone;
• Threaten to have you arrested or bring other court action against you.

If you receive a call that you suspect to be a scam, take down the telephone number, and contact TIGTA to report the call. Use the IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting webpage, or you can call 800-366-4484. You can also report the call to the Federal Trade Commission. Use the FTC Complaint Assistant on FTC.gov. Add the words “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes. Do your due diligence and hopefully, you will not fall victim to telephone, or any other type of scams.