Phone scammers are getting more and more sophisticated—now they're actually using the real NY State Tax Department's phone number to appear on caller ID when they target their victims.
The NY State Department of Taxation and Finance said con artists are "cloning the Tax Department’s fraud hotline phone numbers so they appear on a taxpayer’s caller ID, giving the impression that these bogus calls are legitimate ones from the agency."
If either of the following Tax Department numbers appears on a caller ID system, it’s an immediate signal that the caller is a scam artist: 518-457-5181 or 518-457-0578. These phone numbers are for taxpayers making incoming calls to the Tax Department. The Tax Department doesn’t use these numbers for outgoing calls.
"Many of the imposters who call demand payments on iTunes gift cards and other reloadable debit cards, which are obvious red flags. I urge every New Yorker to remain vigilant for signs that a call could be a scam," said NY Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Jerry Boone.
The Tax Department says that you can confirm whether you do have tax issues by calling the Tax Department call center at (518) 457-5434, and a live employee will be able to verify any issues. The department adds, "You can also protect yourself from con artists by creating an Online Services (OLS) account directly with the Tax Department at www.tax.ny.gov. This will allow you to confirm any outstanding tax liabilities and manage your tax matters securely online. If a caller is telling you something that doesn’t match up with your OLS account, this could be a warning sign."
Lately, there have been many phone scammers claiming to be the IRS and demanding immediate payment, in addition to other tried and true cons, like the "Your relative is in trouble" one. You can report NY State tax scams here and IRS scams here. The FBI also accepts tips/reports on phone scams at IC3 and will try to marry all the complaints to find the fraudsters.
