IRS Warns of New Tax Scams

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued a reminder urging consumers to look out for two new variations of tax-related phone and email scams. The phone scam involves pre-recorded messages threatening to suspend or cancel a victim’s Social Security number, and the email phishing scam involves a fake agency – the “Bureau of Tax Enforcement” – claiming that the victim owes past due taxes. For the phone scam, the IRS notes it does not leave pre-recorded, urgent, or threatening messages. And for the email phishing scams, the IRS remarks it does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information (instead initiating most contacts through regular mail). This advisory includes a list of “telltale signs of a scam” and information for how to contact the IRS to verify their tax status. Read the advisory at the IRS.