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For years, the general rule of thumb for avoiding an IRS phone scam was reassurance from the Internal Revenue Service itself that the agency would never contact taxpayers over the phone — whether to collect a tax debt or about anything else.
But that’s no longer the case.
Back in September of last year, the IRS announced it would begin using four different private collection firms to handle some overdue federal tax debts. Those companies are CBE Group, Conserve, Performant and Pioneer.
“As a condition of receiving a contract, these agencies must respect taxpayer rights including, among other things, abiding by the consumer protection provisions of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act,” the original announcement said.
According to the IRS, the decision to use private firms was based on several factors — one being a lack of resources to work on all of the cases the agency has to handle, including those involving older, overdue tax accounts.
When an account or case is handed over to a private collection agency, the rules change — meaning it’s safe to assume that unlike at the IRS, people working for these private companies probably will call you.
And this is where it may become confusing for taxpayers — determining whether the caller is a real debt collector or a crook impersonating the IRS in an effort to steal your money.
It’s no secret that debt collectors have been known to use intimidating tactics and even resort to threats of arrest or constant harassment — which sounds a lot like the warning signs of a scam.
So if you get a phone call about a tax-related debt, how can you tell if it’s a scammer after your money and/or identity, or a legit collection attempt?
To help you protect yourself and better understand what to expect, the IRS provided the following information regarding how exactly this new process works (or is supposed to work):
Read more: IRS scammers are sending fake letters through the mail: How to spot the scam
The IRS also says that the agency will not assign accounts to private collection firms involving taxpayers who are:
You can see more details about the agency’s use of private firms on the IRS website.
According to the IRS:
Even with private debt collection, you shouldn’t receive unexpected phone calls from the IRS demanding payment. When people owe tax, the IRS always sends several collection notices through the mail before making phone calls.
IRS scams typically involve impostors calling people and demanding immediate payment. In some cases, they may impersonate local law enforcement and threaten people with immediate arrest unless they send untraceable money amounting in the “thousands of dollars for back taxes” that you supposedly owe.
One way scammers convince people to pay up is by using phone spoofing, which makes the number they call from show up as “IRS” on the caller ID. And if the scammer already has the last four digits of the person’s Social Security number — it makes them sound pretty legit.
Here are some of the tactics used by these scammers:
This post was last modified on April 24, 2017 2:20 pm
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