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Attorney General Mike DeWine
More Tax Scams
Reported as Filing Deadline Nears
March numbers double January’s numbers
(COLUMBUS, Ohio)—Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today warned that
more consumers are reporting tax scams ahead of the April 17 tax-filing
deadline.
In March, the Ohio Attorney General’s Help Center logged more than 340
reports of tax scams, compared to about 160 in January and 280 in
February.
“Scam artists cast a wide net. They know not everyone will fall for it,
but some will,” Attorney General DeWine said. “We encourage people to
be very careful, especially this time of year. Scam artists will try to
scare you to death, saying they’re the IRS and they’re coming to throw
you in jail if you don’t pay them immediately. The real IRS doesn’t
operate like that.”
Among the tax scams reported to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, the
IRS impostor phone scam is the most common. In this scam, people
generally get a call saying the federal government is taking action
against them for tax problems and they must call back immediately (and
eventually pay) to resolve the problem.
Tips to avoid the scams include:
Don’t trust threatening callers. If you receive an unexpected phone
call from someone who threatens to arrest you for not paying taxes, be
very skeptical, especially if you never received any written notice.
Avoid making payments over the phone. Don’t trust someone who demands
that you pay immediately over the phone using a gift card or by sending
a wire transfer. These are preferred payment methods for scam artists,
because once sent, it’s very difficult to trace or recover the money.
The real IRS won’t demand that you pay over the phone using one of
these specific methods.
Don’t respond to illegal robocalls in any way. Don’t interact with the
caller, and don’t call a number left on your phone or in a message.
Responding to a scam call can result in even more calls because it lets
con artists know that your phone number belongs to a real person.
Don’t always trust caller ID. Scammers may “spoof” a phone number,
making the number on your caller ID appear to be from the IRS, even
when it’s not. For example, a call may appear to be coming from a 202
(Washington D.C.) area code, when it’s actually coming from another
country.
Check into call-blocking options. Find out if services are available
through your phone carrier, your phone itself, or third-party apps to
help you stop unwanted calls.
IRS or U.S. Treasury impersonation scams can be reported to the U.S.
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at
www.treasury.gov/tigta or 800-366-4484. Consumers also can contact the
Ohio Attorney General’s Office at www.OhioProtects.org or 800-282-0515
for help detecting a scam.
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