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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

A Viewer Writes: IRS Scam

Hi Joe.

Just wanted to post something on you site as a warning to your readers. I had a message on my home phone Friday that said the IRS was bringing a law suit against me. Now I know this is not the way the IRS operates. But there may be people who could be duped by this. The message says to call back at 509-790-0609 to discuss this, so being the adventuresome type that I am, I called the number. They asked for the phone number that I had been contacted on, and then asked for me by name. They started on this spiel of my accounts and assets would be seized...yada yada.

So after about 10 to 15 seconds of this I said,"You know, this is a stinking load of (insert well-known expletive for excrement). The IRS doesn't contact people this way. By the time I got to the word contact they hung up. Just wanted to pass this on. Its definitely a scam.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Better check your next few months phone bill real well could have some unwanted charges from your return call to that number.

Anonymous said...

Fyi..the IRS NEVER initiates contact via phone. Their first contact will ALWAYS be a letter.

Anonymous said...

It's a scam.

Anonymous said...

I don't answer period.

Anonymous said...

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and asking for money, here’s what you should do:
If you know you owe taxes or think you might owe, call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040. The IRS workers can help you with a payment issue.
If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to believe that you do, report the incident to the TIGTA at 1-800-366-4484 or at www.tigta.gov.
If you’ve been targeted by this scam, also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov.

Anonymous said...

You always receive a certified letter first, if there is a problem. They never identify themselves as IRS, only The Internal Revenue Service.

Anonymous said...

Good information, thanks!