Attorney General Masto Warns Consumers Against IRS Telephone Scam


March 7, 2014

Carson City, NV – Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto warns tax payers about an ongoing phone scam using the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) name to gain sensitive financial information from consumers.

    “Nevadans should be alert to these fraudulent calls,” said Masto. “Take caution when receiving phone calls that appear to be fraudulent and to report the concern as soon as possible.”

      In this scam, callers use a variety of tactics to trick consumers. They may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security Number and use the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS contacting the victim. It is common for scammers to threaten victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation.

        What to do if you suspect fraudulent IRS activity:

        • If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees can help you with a payment 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 threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484.
        • If you’ve been targeted by this scam, you should also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov. Please add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments of your complaint.

          For more information and tips to avoid phone scams, visit the Nevada Attorney General’s Tech Crime unit and the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) website.

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