Report an impersonation scam

How to recognize a scam

Scammers will usually use scare tactics to get you to share your personal and financial information with them. Scammers may:

• demand immediate payment for a tax debt;
• threaten you over the phone, possibly with police action or deportation; or
• demand you pay in a specific way, such as through prepaid debit cards or in person.

Tax Department employees will never:

• threaten you for failure to pay a tax debt;
• refuse your request to call us back using a number found on our website;
• use email, text messages, or social media to request or discuss your personal or tax information; or
• demand you pay taxes without the option to question or appeal the amount we say you owe.

What you should report

Please report any suspicious contact you have with individuals claiming to be Tax Department or IRS employees. You may wish to report:

• suspicious phone calls and voicemails;
• text messages and emails requesting personal information; or
• interactions with Tax Department or IRS employees who do not seem legitimate.

How to report an impersonation scam

You can report possible impersonation scams to the Tax Department and IRS online or by phone. We will review your complaint promptly and, where appropriate, take corrective action. Please refer to the table below to learn how and to whom you should report your concerns.

How you can protect yourself

• If you receive a threatening phone call regarding your taxes, hang up immediately.
• Don’t agree to meet anyone claiming to be a tax representative in person to pay a debt.
• Don’t provide personal information in an email, or click on any suspicious links in an email asking for personal information.
• If you receive a suspicious phone call about your taxes, record the caller’s name, phone number, and the information displayed on the caller ID (if available). If the caller claims to be a Tax Department or IRS employee, ask for the employee’s ID or badge number to assist us in our investigation.

Phishing

Be aware of attempts to trick you into providing personal or financial information through an email request or through a link to a fraudulent website. This is called phishing, a criminal activity to manipulate you into sharing confidential information.

Phishing emails may appear to be from a trustworthy source, but when you select a link in a phishing email, you may be directed to a fraudulent website. The website will attempt to acquire personal or private information, or possibly infect your computer with malicious software. An email may be a phishing attempt if it includes:

• obvious spelling errors (phishers do this intentionally to avoid spam filters many Internet providers use), or
• links that contain all or part of a real entity's name or Web address, but are not identical to that of the legitimate website.

To check the destination of an active link on a computer, hover over the link with your cursor and review the Web address (URL) displayed in the lower-left bottom of your window.

On a mobile device, use a URL checker (in an app or a browser) to scan a link for malware. The checker will tell you if the URL is safe. 

For more information on phishing, visit Department of State, Division of Consumer Protection: Phishing Scam Prevention Tips.

More scam resources

• Tax scams and consumer alerts
• IRS at Tax scams/consumer alerts
• Report fraud, scams, and identity theft