The Holiday Season is Not Always Jolly

For Federal Employees, the holiday season brings about much joy and anticipation.  It also brings about many concerns for senior citizens and federal retirees.  The holiday season is also a time when unscrupulous individuals look for ways to scam and take advantage of unsuspecting citizens.  One of the most recent scams involved telephone calls, supposedly, from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).  Individuals would receive phone calls telling them about outstanding taxes and the consequences they would face if the taxes were not paid right away.

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Many of the individuals were asked to give personal information over the phone such as social security numbers, bank information and many other pieces of identification the IRS would never ask for.  Seniors and retirees are always targets because scam artists believe Federal employees have money and they want some of it.  Be ware is the best mantra to have during the holidays and throughout the year, because as soon as one scam is detected another one is well on the way.

The IRS does not notify citizens of tax issues by calling them and threatening them over the phone.  The IRS will usually send written correspondence outlining what the tax issue is allowing you to contact the service to discuss the issue.  The IRS will never call you on the phone and threaten you with jail or other non-professional means of communication.  There is no guarantee that all IRS representatives are going to be nice, but if they act in a threatening manner there are certainly mechanisms of reporting that behavior.  Often IRS calls are recorded for quality assurance.

The IRS in its previous history had a reputation of bullying citizens and acting in a very unprofessional manner.  Citizens complained and watchdog groups lobbied Congress about the Service’s tactics.  Since then the IRS has adopted a more customer friendly attitude.  According to customers, the Service could still stand some more training around appropriate customer service protocol, but they have gotten better.  The surprising thing is that the IRS continues to be voted as one of the best places in Government to work.

However, the most important thing to remember this time of the year is that jolly is not the only thing calling at your door, so are the scammers.

P. S.  Always Remember to Share What You Know.

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