There are a lot of good people out there who do things like following the rules and paying their taxes. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of bad people out there too. Many of these bad people like to take advantage of those good people, and abuse their trusting or concerned nature. That is why good people have to be on their guard and wary of potential scams.
A popular scam that goes around, is when someone contacts a victim claiming to be the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The scammer will try to convince the victim that he or she owes some large amount of fines and taxes. Coupled with this will be a sense of urgency, such as “This is the final time we will try to contact you before having you arrested.” or something of that nature. Whatever it is, it will be meant to cause a sense of panic in the victim, thus making them more likely to pay the “fine” without thinking about it too much.
The thing is, this is typically a scam. The IRS will never contact a person about this via phone, email, or even in person. If this was a real IRS situation, they would contact the person through mail delivered by the United States Postal Service (USPS).
On top of that, the IRS will not threaten people. This is a tactic used solely by scammers. The IRS cannot revoke a person’s driver’s license, business license, or even immigration status. Scammers pretending to be from the IRS will make these claims in an effort to cause their victims to panic, and do something without thinking it through. The IRS would never do that.
Lastly, the IRS will never ask or require a person to pay for their taxes or fines with a prepaid debit card, gift card, or wire transfer. These are all methods primarily used by scammers to ensure the money cannot be traced. This means that once the money is given in this way, it is gone forever.