IRS Phone Scam Dupes Woman in Ashburn: Police

ASHBURN, VA — Police repeatedly have warned residents about the notorious IRS phone scam, but the cautionary alerts apparently have yet to have the desired effects because the thing keeps on happening, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office. The latest incident happened late last week in 21800 block of Crescent Park Square.

A woman received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the "IRS Criminal Investigation Division." The caller told her a warrant had been issued for her arrest and that she needed to pay fees and fine. Then she was advised by a so-called "IRS Collections Representative" that she could pay with iTunes gift cards. And so did — before realizing the call was a scam.

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Here are some tips from the real Internal Revenue Service:

Characteristics of this scam include:

• Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
• Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security Number.
• Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling.
• Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.
• Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.
• After threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:

• If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue – if there really is such an issue.
• If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, you’ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484.
• You can file a complaint using the FTC Complaint Assistant; choose “Other” and then “Imposter Scams.” If the complaint involves someone impersonating the IRS, include the words “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes.

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