IRS Scams Rampant During Tax Season

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NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - "The IRS is coming after you." That's the phony message seniors are getting too often in North Texas especially during tax season.

The number one fraud scheme in the United States has become fake IRS debt collectors.

But in the case of a Frisco man, they're not just trying to scam people out of money, they are psychologically terrorizing them.

"That cold rush of adrenaline when you look in your rear-view mirror and see a cop behind you," said Frisco resident Noel Dickson.

The 71-year-old already owed $600 in back taxes so he believed the messages and personal phone calls he's been getting everyday were supposedly from the IRS.

He started to worry that he was being followed. "Right now you and your physical property are being monitored," said one of the calls.

Dickson was threatened with a lawsuit if he didn't hand over more than $6,000.

"It did scare me because I thought they had everything mixed up and I'm in trouble," said Dickson.

It was only after a Tuesday caller got his name wrong did he realize it wasn't the real IRS pressuring him for money.

"I think it's shameful," he said.

Fake IRS calls are rampant during tax season.

While the best response is to hang up, Dickson fears that other seniors will be vulnerable to the threats of losing their homes or being followed and arrested.

"Today they added something new to it when they said good luck to you when you go out of your house and I got very scared," he said

The IRS says repeatedly on its website that it never calls taxpayers about anything so disregard any phone calls.

Still, the IRS says as many as two million people have complained about solicitations like this and one man in California was conned out of $130,000.