By dawg - 15/12/2014 03:50 - United States - Stuart

Today, I found out that the "IRS scam" that I ignored last week was actually not a scam, and now I have a warrant out for me. FML
I agree, your life sucks 34 714
You deserved it 7 041

Same thing different taste

Top comments

Well with the amount of fake ads there are out there I don't blame you. It's uncanny how many times I've been 'chosen' for a free iPad.

jojimugo 20

Comments

Well with the amount of fake ads there are out there I don't blame you. It's uncanny how many times I've been 'chosen' for a free iPad.

lemex243 5

Uncanny isnt the right wird there!!!!! Bluh bluh bluh bluh look at me im part of the fml community dur dur dur! That is an homage to how much I hate the people of the FML community. They are all idiiots

I agree, they can't really be that mad seeing as how many fake ads there are running through commerce, they're even on TV commercials, I'm sure they'll understand OP

Considering the IRS sends newsletters warning about what to expect when you get contacted by a scammer (for example, asking for bank account info, contacting you by phone, etc), it seems kinda stupid to ignore a letter from the IRS without at least contacting an accountant to see if its legit. You seriously don't want to **** with the IRS. Every government agency in the country couldn't take down Al Capone, except the IRS, that is. Thats assuming this is real. I'm a tax accountant and this seems fishy to me. I highly doubt you owe so much money that after only attempting to contact you once, they got a warrant for your arrest. If I were the OP, I'd call the real IRS to check whats going on. Usually, if you owe money to the IRS and you haven't paid by their last warning, they'll put a lien on your account, not send you to jail (unless, of course, you owe a large sum of money and are suspected of tax evasion.)

So you're telling me that my free iPad isn't coming?

My grandmother got a call from the "IRS" last week claiming that my grandfather was excessively in debt. She told them to call back when he was home, gave them the time to call back and everything. They called back from another number and said they were putting a warrant out for my grandfather's arrest. they owe absolutely no money to the IRS and we did a reverse number lookup, both numbers had been report for scams.

jthmtwin 16

Should save the numbers and report them to the police or the bbb

Huh, maybe the warrant is a scare tactic by a scammer then?

Friend had the same thing happen to him, as someone previously stated, a call to the IRS solved things. It's probably a scam, but check just to make sure.

I got an email last week that my long lost uncle from the Middle East wants to send me $600k he just needs my social security number, routing and account number and my name and address! Nice guy right!

I got the same email - we must be cousins!!

A similar situation happened to a friend of mine. She was contacted by someone at the "IRS" and was told she needed to settle her back taxes with them immediately or they would issue a warrant for her arrest. She ignored it and got a letter about two weeks later stating that this letter was notifying her of an active warrant issued by the federal government. She took it into the police station and they confirmed it was fake.

that sucks op, I guess we should take more precaution now :/

*Puts on fake mustache and monocle* Um yes OP. I am from the IRS. I will need you to wire me your credit card numbers and bank account info for this audit. You can trust me or my name isn't Scammy McLegit.

Apparently though even if it was the IRS you still couldn't trust them. Kinda sad if you ask me

I work for the IRS just send me all your money and I'll make it so you never pay tax again

It sucks, but I'm sure they will understand it if you explain it. All those emails and letters which are around now, asking for your creditcard numbers or bank account information, how are we supposed to know which ones are real or not? The amount of spam is too damn high! xD

#9, it's the IRS; I'm certain they hear explanations like this all the time -- and that in no small percentage of the cases, the explainer actually knew it was real. They may understand if OP explains what happened, but that won't change OP's liability or the warrant; only satisfying the requirements can do that. For future, OP and others: If you receive a communication you're suspicious of but that would be very bad for you to ignore if it's legitimate, you can check by contacting the purported sender directly (look up their contact information yourself, don't use what's in what you received) and asking whether they did indeed contact you. If it's legitimate, you can ask them to explain it better if need be; if it's false, you know you don't have to worry about it and they know there's a scam centered on them.

Wow man don't blame you there are a lot of scammers out there especially using the irs name. Just explain what happened and they will probably understand.... Or not they are the dicks of America.

If you were notified by email, yes, it IS a scam, and so is the email that claims you have a warrant. If there's really a problem, the IRS will notifiy you by U.S. Postal Service mail.

Indeed. I saw a couple other comments saying this. We were also contacted a few weeks ago - by phone - and given the lawsuit message. Didn't get anything about a warrant, but apparently we'd been ignoring this same call for months prior, and they still called with the same message. Most obvious thing was the chosen method of communication - it would've been by mail if it had been real!! Call the IRS just in case (good luck, buddy), but you probably have no reason to worry.

If you tell them why you ignored it I'm sure they'll understand. About 2 months ago someone from "IRS"(scammer) called my dad and had him convinced he was actually going to jail if he didn't pay like $400 by the end of the day.

The IRS doesn't call you for anything. If the IRS needs to communicate with you, they'll send you a letter. If you get a call from someone claiming to be working for the IRS (unless you are in the process of being audited and the auditor is calling you with updates, etc.), its a scam.