BEWARE!!
If you receive a phone call from the “IRS” claiming they are going to sue you, do not call them back or provide any information to them! It is fraud!
They called me today from phone number 360-780-3756 and had a recorded voice telling me it was the IRS, it was urgent and I was going to be sued. I Bing searched the number, like I usually do when it is a strange number and/or recorded message, and I found many others receiving the same call and message.
The IRS is very clear on their website about contacting people:
“The IRS doesn’t initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or social media channels to request personal or financial information. This includes requests for PIN numbers, passwords or similar access information for credit cards, banks or other financial accounts.”
(source: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Report-Phishing)
If you receive one of these calls, DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION!! DO NOT CALL THEM BACK!!
Instead, take a few minutes and report them to the IRS, which hopefully will save others the aggravation of receiving the call, catch the people and most importantly, hopefully your help will save someone else from losing their hard earned money by being tricked by these frauds! Here’s how to report them, according to the IRS source aforementioned:
If you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS but you suspect they are not an IRS employee. |
1. Record the employee’s name, badge number, call back number and caller ID if available.2. Call 1-800-366-4484 to determine if the caller is an IRS employee with a legitimate need to contact you.· If the person calling you is an IRS employee, call them back.· If not, report the incident to TIGTA and to us at phishing@irs.gov (Subject: ‘IRS Phone Scam’) |
Even if you don’t have all of the information, report them using what you do have so the IRS can investigate it further and maybe find the culprits.
As a reminder, most banks, IRS or any other corporations that you may have accounts with will not call you and request information over the phone. You should be suspicious of most phone calls you receive and refrain from giving out your information. If you are wondering, find your institution’s number on their website or off of a statement, call them directly and ask if they show any records of reaching out to you. The majority of the time, they are required to record in their internal notes when a person has made an attempt to reach out to you.
