Sheila Jackson Lee: “Every year, billions of dollars are stolen from hardworking Americans as a result of identity theft. Tax season is a…”

“Every year, billions of dollars are stolen from hardworking Americans as a result of identity theft. Tax season is a particularly dangerous time as scammers pretending to be IRS representatives, trick victims into giving them money. The bipartisan bill, H.R. 2905 ``Justice for Victims of IRS Scams and Identity Theft Act of 2018,'' helps ensure that Congress has the information it needs to make sure that law enforcement agencies are employing tactics to hold these criminals accountable and deter future crimes. As tax season comes to a close, millions of Americans are at risk of being exploited by an emerging scheme where scam artists pretend to be IRS agents and harass victims into providing personal information and money. The IRS estimates that more than $65 million has been lost to phone tax scammers in the past five years. These attacks are most common during the high high tax season in March and April. Often scammers present themselves as the IRS and trick people into sending them money and personal information. As technology advances so do the scammers. The IRS warned of a sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, which has been making the rounds throughout the country. Scammers claim to be IRS employees, using fake names and bogus IRS identification badge numbers. They may know a lot about their targets, and they usually alter the caller ID to make it look like the IRS is calling.…”