It still made my stomach drop….
Woman in the Middle | April 22, 2015I got a message on the phone yesterday. “This is the IRS. We have been trying to reach you. This is your final call. The IRS will be filing a lawsuit against you. Call …..”
My initial reaction was panic. But then my higher thinking brain kicked right in, thank goodness. First, I remembered that, in spite of what the automated call said, we have not received any previous calls from the IRS. Far from being the last call we received, it was the first.
Then it dawned on me that, in order to file a lawsuit, the IRS was likely to audit us first, to find the information to use in the aforementioned lawsuit. Maybe if I was a big tax scammer, they might file suit after auditing the heck out of me, but not before.
Lastly, the IRS seems to be a letter kind of place. I have a feeling if they really were going to file a lawsuit against me they would send an official looking letter, not just pick up the phone!
After all of the above ran through my head in a nano second, I deleted the message.
Even though I knew it wasn’t true and was just a scam, adrenaline still pumped through my body for several minutes. Whew!
Good thing you realised it was a scam in time
It’s too bad that you didn’t save it and contact the IRS to tell them about it. I’m sure they would want to know. Of course you can still let them know so other people don’t fall for it.
I know, I thought about that after I deleted it.
This scam has been reported on TV. IRS, whether on paper or a message, puts a terror in your heart that is unexplainable!
Smart lady to figure it all out! I would have panicked too. Yikes!