As the Internal Revenue Service and taxpayers gear up for the start of tax filing season on January 26, the scammers have been ramping up too. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), there has been a surge in consumer reports of phone scammers posing as the IRS or so-called “tax resolution” agencies with official-sounding names such as “Tax Resolution Oversight Department” or “Tax Mediation and Resolution Agency.”

These calls are not from the government and are designed to pressure you into providing your personal information or handing over your hard-earned cash to settle some fictitious back tax........

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