More people being targeted by IRS phone scam

Tax season is here and scammers are using this time of year to cash in.

The biggest scam the Better Business Bureau hears about is an IRS phone scam.

That’s when people get a phone call where the scammers tell them they need to pay up immediately, or they’ll face fines or be arrested.

Samantha Gillihan with the BBB says that urgency tends to make people act immediately because they don’t want more problems.

Gillihan says the IRS will never make one of these phone calls, you’d be notified by mail.

“It would be very official, it’s not going to be generic, it’s going to be specified toward you and you’re situation, and it’s going to have verifiable contact information,” she said. “Even if they direct you to an individual, it’s something where you can look that number up online and then they’ll provide contact links to just the IRS informaiton in general.”

The BBB offers a scam tracker where you report and view scams.