IRS impersonation scam

An IRS impersonation scam is a class of telecommunications fraud and scam which targets American taxpayers by masquerading as Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collection officers.^[1] The scammers operate by placing disturbing official-sounding calls to unsuspecting citizens, threatening them with arrest and frozen assets if thousands of dollars are not paid immediately, usually via gift cards or money orders.^[2] According to the IRS, over 1,029,601 Americans have received threatening calls, and $29,100,604 has been reported lost to these call scams as of March 2016.^[3] The problem has been assigned to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.^[4] Studies highlight that most victims of these scams are aged 20-29 years old and women are more affected than men. One way to decrease the risks of an individual falling victim to IRS impersonation scams is through awareness programs.^[5]

The scammers often request payment in the form of gift cards such as Google Play or iTunes cards, wire transfer, MoneyGram, or credit card.^[6]

As of September 2017^[update], several people from India have been arrested for impersonating IRS employees.^[7]