Treasury Department Warns Against Scammers Posing As IRS

<p>We're now in day two of the tax filing season and scammers are trying to take advantage of you.&nbsp;</p>

Wednesday, January 20th 2016, 7:39 am

By: News 9


We're now in day two of the tax filing season and scammers are trying to take advantage of you.

The biggest phone fraud in history is growing and the government is launching a new campaign to fight back. The Treasury Department has issued a public service announcement, telling people to hang up on fraud.

Con artists posing as the IRS was the most popular scam in 2015. In March of last year, 366,000 people had been called by scammers. Now the number of victims is more than 900,000.

Fraud experts say the amount of money scammers have stolen has grown from $15 million to more than $26 million. So what should you listen for to know if it's a scam?

"The tip-off is, if you don't pay immediately, you're going to go to jail, that is the tip-off. The IRS would never make a telephone call like that," said Tim Camus with the Treasury Department.

If you do get a call like that, just hang up the phone. Authorities say the IRS phone scam started in India but it's become so profitable, it has spread to copycats all over the world.

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