IRS Phone Scam Victimizes Resident in Ashburn: Police

ASHBURN, VA — Tax season in upon us, and inasmuch that thieves know that as well, it's best to beware of phone calls from people claiming to be with the Internal Revenue Service.

Take, for example, what happened to a resident in the 23300 block of Tradewind Drive, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office.

A person called claiming to be an IRS agent and said the victim owed money to the agency. The victim was told to go to a nearby store and buy iTunes gift cards and also to wire money.

The victim later became suspicious and was able to get a refund on the wired money but not the iTunes cards, which already had been used.

Here are some tips from IRS:

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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