Another Tax-Time Warning from Attorney General Maura Healey

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. CC-BY-SA: Wikimedia, Edahlpr

Last month we talked about how Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey warned us all via Boston Public Radio to beware of scams. She said the fastest growing form of identity theft is stealing tax refunds.

There's a new scam that involves someone pretending to be the IRS. They will call you and threaten you with jail time unless you give them your credit card number immediately. They will have one or two people on their end, one to act like a first-level caller, the second to act like a manager. This is all a fraud!

The IRS will never cold call you. Think about it. All they do is send snail mail with document numbers and reference ID's and bureaucracy. You cannot easily pick up the phone to call them, and unless they have already started down a review or audit, they will not call you.

Anyone calling from the IRS without referencing an existing case is a fraudster. Save yourself the harassment and hang up immediately.

Remember, you heard it at MassLandlords first: If the IRS calls, hang up!