Remember the scam that we kept hearing about during tax season, where victims received a phone call from a person pretending to represent the Internal Revenue Service who demanded immediate payment on a prepaid debit card? People just keep on falling for it. Yes, even now that most people have turned in their tax returns.

Police and the IRS both warn Americans not to follow the instructions of any scamsters who call you up and demand payment of your taxes. First off, the IRS generally doesn’t get the tax-collection ball rolling by calling you on the phone and threatening to take your house and send you to jail. The IRS does not demand payment by prepaid debit card, as the scammers do. They would not ask for wire transfers, something else that the scammers are known to do. The real IRS also doesn’t send collection notices or ask for personal information over e-mail.

Checking the caller ID isn’t a helpful tactic, either: while the scamsters obviously don’t represent the IRS, some victims report that the entity that called them spoofed their caller ID, making it say that the call came from a real IRS number, 1-800-829-1040.

If you receive one of these calls, don’t send any money, and report the call to the IRS at 1-800-366-4484.

Boynton Beach Police Warn Of Phone Scam [CBS Miami]

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