IRS: Impersonators Call Taxpayers to Verify Return Information

Criminals impersonating IRS agents are calling taxpayers under the guise of verifying tax return information, the IRS warned.
 
The scammers tell taxpayers that they have the individual's return and need to verify details to process it, the Internal Revenue Service said in a March 14 news release.  This ploy is an attempt to get taxpayers to reveal personal and financial information such as Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers. The criminals may use threats to intimidate and bully a victim into paying a bogus tax bill, the IRS said.
 
"Don't be fooled," IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in the release. "The IRS won't be calling you out of the blue asking you to verify your personal tax information or aggressively threatening you to make an immediate payment."
 
The IRS said it has seen a 400 percent increase in phishing schemes this year. "These schemes continue to adapt and evolve in an attempt to catch people off guard just as they are preparing their tax returns," Koskinen said