ONLY a month left before the deadline for filing taxes!
While many kababayans may have already filed their tax returns, others tend to procastinate, or worse, have not been fulfilling this obligation dutifully and honestly. Unfortunately, you MAY be among those who can be easy targets for this tax scam.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) wants media to disseminate this information to warn people against this massive tax scam involving fake IRS agents, who have already targeted about 366,000 people in the United States.
Just to understand how massive this scam has been: More than 3,000 people have reportedly fallen for the scheme and were duped an average of $5,000 per victim; $15.5 million in total.
“It’s the largest, most pervasive impersonation scam that we’re aware of and it has claimed thousands of victims in every state represented in this committee,” Treasury Deputy Inspector General Timothy Camus said.
The IRS warns about an aggressive and sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, has been making the rounds throughout the country.
IRS-Impersonation telephone scam
Callers claim to be employees of the IRS, but are not. These con artists can sound convincing when they call. They use fake names and bogus IRS identification badge numbers. They may know a lot about their targets, and they usually alter the caller ID to make it look like the IRS is calling.
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.
Or, victims may be told they have a refund due to try to trick them into sharing private information.
If the phone isn’t answered, the scammers often leave an “urgent” callback request.
Note that the IRS will never: 1) call to demand immediate payment, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill; 2) demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe; 3) require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card; 4) ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone; or 5) threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.
Identity theft scams
The IRS has issued several consumer warnings about the fraudulent use of the IRS name or logo by “scamsters”. They are trying to gain access to your financial information in order to steal their identity and assets.
Scamsters will use the regular mail, telephone, fax or email to set up their victims. When identity theft takes place over the Internet (email), it is called phishing.
The IRS stress that it does NOT initiate taxpayer communications through email. Unsolicited email claiming to be from the IRS, or from an IRS-related component such as EFTPS, should be reported to the IRS at [email protected].
Moreover, clicking on attachments or links within an unsolicited email that claims to come from the IRS may download a malicious virus onto your computer.
Tax preparer phishing scam
Watch out for bogus emails too, and they are targeting tax professionals and all those taxpayers who use the services of these professionals.
According to the IRS, a bogus email asks tax professionals to update their IRS e-services portal information and Electronic Filing Identification Numbers (EFINs).
The links that are provided in the bogus email to access IRS e-services appear to be a phishing scheme designed to capture your username and password.
This email was NOT generated by the IRS e-services program. Disregard this email and do not click on the links provided.
For more information on this scam, see IR-2015-31, IRS Warns Tax Preparers to Watch out for New Phishing Scam; Don’t Click on Strange Emails or Links Seeking Updated Information.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.
