HUNTERDON: Prosecutor says IRS doesn’t ask for taxes over phone or email

Taxpayers should be wary of unsolicited calls from individuals demanding payment while fraudulently claiming to be from the IRS.
According to Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns III, "There are clear warning signs about these scams. Taxpayers should remember that their first contact with the IRS will never be a phone call from out of the blue. All correspondence with taxpayers is sent through the mail."
The prosecutor added, "A big red flag for these scams are threatening calls from people who say they are from the IRS and urging immediate payment. This is not how the IRS operates. People should hang up immediately and contact the IRS or the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration."
The IRS never asks for credit card, debit card, or prepaid card information over the telephone. The IRS also never insists that taxpayers use a specific payment method to pay tax obligations, nor does it ever request immediate payment over the telephone.
Sometimes after threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.
If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:
If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040. The IRS employees at that number can help you with a payment issue, if there really is such an issue.
If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, you’ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1-800-366-4484.
There are other unrelated scams (such as a lottery sweepstakes) and solicitations (such as debt relief) that fraudulently claim to be related to the IRS.
The IRS encourages taxpayers to be vigilant of phone and email scams that use the IRS as a lure. The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information. This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels.
The IRS also does not ask for PINs, passwords or similar confidential access information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts. Recipients should not open any attachments or click on any links contained in the message. Instead, forward the email to [email protected].
For information or to report a scam, go to www.irs.gov and type "scam" in the search box.
More information on how to report phishing scams involving the IRS is available on the IRS website (IRS.gov).