The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has indicated it is making significant progress in its investigation of the IRS impersonation scams that are sweeping the nation, causing reported taxpayer losses of more than $36 million and averaging more than $5,700 per taxpayer. To date, TIGTA has logged approximately 1.2 million calls reported by taxpayers, and nearly 6,400 people have reported that IRS impersonators have fleeced them.
In one instance, a taxpayer was so convinced the scammer was an IRS agent he rushed off to make a payment and was involved in a traffic accident. He was so worried about the scammer’s threats of legal action that he actually left the scene of the accident so he could promptly get the funds wired to the scammer. In this case TIGTA was able to trace the victim’s wire transfer and ultimately nabbed a ring of five scammers.
But these stories generally don’t have happy endings, so it is important for everyone to understand that the IRS never demands payment by wire, MoneyGram, debit cards or the like, and it always makes initial contact by mail.
Protect Yourself and Loved Ones from Being a Scam Victim:
Protect Against Identity Theft – In addition to scammers, watch out for those ID thieves out there looking for vulnerable IDs to steal. You may think it will never happen to you, but if it does, it will become a nightmare and could take years to straighten out. So you need to protect yourself against ID theft by limiting the exposure of your personal and financial information as much as possible.
What do ID thieves need to create havoc for you? Your name, Social Security number and birth date! Here are some tips to limit your ID exposure:
Use common sense and follow the “need-to-know” rule when disclosing your financial information. Careless safeguarding of your information can lead to big problems.
Think Your ID Has Been Compromised? You should immediately:
You should also contact this office immediately so steps can be taken to avoid fraudulent returns being filed using your SSN. Even if someone has already e-filed a return and claimed a refund under your SSN, your refund may still be safe.
However, you cannot e-file and instead must file a paper return with the proper documentation; you will ultimately receive the refund you are due, but it will be severely delayed. Once the IRS recognizes that your SSN was used to file a fraudulent return, it will block your SSN from filing and assign you an alternative filing number for the subsequent year.
For more information on how and what to file when someone else has filed using your SSN, please contact this office.
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