Beware! Property Lien Scam

Taxpayers Should Beware Of A Property Lien Scam

It seems we are writing way too often about scams. Unfortunately, when one scam gets shut down a new one soon pops up. So when the criminals stop scamming, we’ll stop writing about scams.

Last year, the Federal Trade Commission reported that 3 million consumers reported fraud. Those reports yielded the following information:

2018 Data

More than 1.4 million fraud reports were collected, and people said they lost money to the fraud in 25% of those reports.
People reported losing $1.48 billion to fraud last year – an increase of 38% over 2017.
The top reports in 2018 were: imposter scams, debt collection, and identity theft.
Younger people reported losing money to fraud more often than older people. Let that sink in. It’s what the data have been telling us for a while, but it’s hard for people to grasp.
- Last year, of those people who reported fraud and their age, 43% of people in their 20s reported a loss to that fraud, while only 15% of people in their 70s did.
When people in their 70s did lose money, the amount tended to be higher: their median loss was $751, compared to $400 for people in their 20s.
Scammers like to get money by wire transfer – for a total of $423 million last year. That was the most of any payment method reported.
- There was also a surge of payments with gift and reload cards – a 95% increase in dollars paid to scammers last year.
Tax-related identity theft was down last year (by 38%), but credit card fraud on new accounts was up 24%.
- Misusing someone’s information to open a new credit card account was reported more often than other forms of identity theft in 2018.

The FTC urges consumers to keep reporting to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint. Along with thousands of law enforcement partners, they use those reports to investigate and bring cases.

Tax-Related Scam Artists

Scam artists are hard at work all year. Taxpayers should always be on the lookout for new versions of tax-related scams. One such scam involves fake property liens. It threatens taxpayers with a tax bill from a fictional government agency.

The Property Lien Scam Goes Something Like This:

This scheme involves a letter threatening an IRS lien or levy.
The scammer mails the letter to a taxpayer.
The lien or levy is based on bogus overdue taxes owed to a non-existent agency.
The non-existent agencies might have a legitimate-sounding name like the “Bureau of Tax Enforcement.”
There is no such agency.
This scam may also reference the IRS to confuse potential victims into thinking the letter is from a real agency.

If You Don’t Owe Taxes And Have No Reason To Think You Do:

Contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to report the letter.

- Use their IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting web page.
- When reporting the scam, include the key words “IRS Lien.”

Scan a document received as a letter or fax, and send it to phishing@irs.gov.
Report it to the Federal Trade Commission using the FTC Complaint Assistant on FTC.gov.
Report it also to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, known simply as IC3.

If You Owe Tax Or Think You Might:

Review your tax account information and payment options at IRS.gov.

- Reviewing tax account information online will show if you indeed owe the IRS and how much. This is the fastest way to get this information.

Call the IRS at 800-829-1040 to confirm the notice if you’re still not sure you owe.

You may also contact your tax professional to help you determine if you are the target of a property lien scam or other IRS scam and to find out if you really do owe tax. Unless you are certain, it is always best to seek professional advice.