IRS issued a warning yesterday to students and their parents to be alert to a student tax phone scam.
People should be on the lookout for IRS impersonators calling students and demanding that they wire money immediately to pay a fake “federal student tax.” If the person does not comply, the scammer becomes aggressive and threatens to report the student to the police to be arrested. As schools around the nation prepare to re-open, it is important for taxpayers to be particularly aware of this scheme going after students and parents.
The IRS encourages college and school communities to share this information so that students, parents and their families are aware of these scams.
Scammers use a variety of schemes, including:
- Altering the caller ID on incoming phone calls in a “spoofing” attempt to make it seem like the IRS, the local police or another agency is calling.
- Imitating software providers to trick tax professionals.
- Demanding fake tax payments using iTunes gift cards.
- Soliciting W-2 information from payroll and human resources.
- “Verifying” tax return information over the phone.
- Pretending to be from the tax preparation industry.
Anyone receiving such a call can report it at the IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting web page or by calling 800-366-4484.