IRS warns of tax scams and phishing being on the rise

According to the Internal Revenue Service, scammers make unsolicited phone calls to taxpayers pretending to be IRS officials. They harass them by threatening victims into paying through prepaid debit card or wire transfers, telling them failing to do so will result in an arrest, deportation or even the revoking of a license.

With the increasing use of technology, scammers are able to alter caller ID numbers to make it look like a legitimate IRS phone call. It is a trick called “spoofing”. They even go to the extreme of using fake badge numbers of IRS agents. They tend to target those who are most vulnerable including, the elderly, newly arrived immigrants and those whose first language is not English.