Jessie Schmidt of the Better Business Bureau in Sioux Falls is warning residents about a phone scam that has bogus IRS agents demanding immediate payments of money over the phone.

"Beware of any caller claiming to be from the IRS and demanding money. The IRS announced they would never ask for payments by wire transfer or a prepaid card and the IRS will typically alert taxpayers of unpaid taxes via the mail, not a phone call."

If you get one of these calls, Schmidt urges you to hang up the phone.

"Under any condition, do not provide personal information to one of these scam artists. Just as important, never authorize payments over the phone. Additionally, here are some signs that can tell you if it's really the IRS:

The IRS first reaches out to taxpayers about unpaid taxes through mail.

There isn't a certain type of payment the IRS requests, and does not ask for immediate payments over the phone."

Jessie Schmidt encourages residents to call the Better Business Bureau if they have questions about the scam.  The number is 605-271-2066.

Since the IRS issued warning about the phone scam, the number of complaints to the IRS has reached more than ninety thousand and total losses has surpassed $5 million.

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