Calls and messages claiming to be the IRS, Social Security or Medicare

Who they pretend to be

The FTC's guide to government impersonation scams names the Social Security Administration, the IRS, Medicare and the FTC itself, along with local sheriff's offices, courts, immigration officials, and made-up offices such as a "National Sweepstakes Bureau." The stories vary: you owe money, you've won a prize but must pay fees, you missed jury duty and must pay a penalty, there's a warrant for your arrest, or your benefits are about to stop. The payment request doesn't vary much: a wire transfer, a gift card, cryptocurrency, a payment app, or cash or gold handed to someone who comes to collect it.

New versions appear all the time. In October 2026 the FTC described callers posing as FTC officials who say your phone number was used for crimes abroad, threaten to shut it off, pass you to a fake police officer, and tell you to keep everything secret. The FTC's answer: "A real FTC employee will never ever tell you to keep your conversations secret."

How the real agencies say they contact you

The IRS. From its page "How to know it's the IRS": "We normally contact you the first time by mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service." It emails and texts only when you've opted in (though its criminal investigators may "Call or email with questions connected to a criminal investigation"), and "A social media direct message is never from us." It says a phone call, email or text that's unexpected, rushes or threatens you, asks for personal or financial information, or demands payment now isn't from the IRS. The IRS adds that it, or a private collection agency working for it, may call you about your account; a private collection agency calls only after you've had two letters in the mail, one from the IRS and one from the agency, the FTC says. The IRS adds that both letters carry a taxpayer authentication number, which also lets you check that the caller is real, and says: "Make all payments to the IRS. The PCA will never ask you to pay them directly or through prepaid debit, iTunes or gift cards." (PCA means private collection agency.) IRS staff occasionally visit, generally after a letter. Revenue officers and agents carry an IRS credential called a pocket commission and an HSPD-12 card, both with the employee's photo and serial number, and the IRS says "You can ask to see both." During a visit about tax you owe, the IRS says "you can pay the officer in cash or check, certified funds or money order payable to 'United States Treasury.'" It adds, "You can also pay online." So cash is only one of the ways you can choose to pay, and the FTC says no one from the government will ever tell you to give cash to anyone. Check before you pay. The IRS says "Unannounced visits are rare." It generally sends a letter before it visits, and its page says to confirm an appointment by calling the number on your letter. A fake letter can carry a scammer's number, though, so call the IRS at a number you find on irs.gov yourself. To check the letter itself, the IRS says to search its notices and letters on irs.gov. Make any check or money order out to "United States Treasury," never to a person. Our advice: don't hand cash to anyone at your door, including a courier or a driver sent to collect it; pay online or by check or money order instead. To report a call pretending to be the IRS, the IRS points to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA). For a fake IRS email, its page says to send it to phishing@irs.gov. For a text, it says to send the sender's number, the words of the text, your number and when it arrived to the same address, with the subject line "Text," and you can also forward the text to 7726 (SPAM), a forwarding code for spam texts rather than a number to call. A real IRS letter can arrive unexpectedly and ask you to pay by a deadline, so don't ignore one: the IRS says to look it up with its notices-and-letters search on irs.gov, and that you can get certain notices and letters in your IRS online account, which you reach by typing irs.gov yourself. If the letter doesn't appear in the search, or it looks suspicious, the IRS says to call it: use the number on that same irs.gov page.

Social Security. The FTC says: "The real Social Security Administration won’t threaten you or suspend your Social Security number." Social Security's Office of the Inspector General adds: "Legitimate companies and other agencies CANNOT transfer your phone call directly to SSA or OIG." If a call connects you to someone claiming to be from either, it says, "it is a scam, without exception, every time."

Medicare. Medicare.gov says: "Remember that Medicare will never call you to sell you anything or visit you at your home." It adds that Medicare, or someone representing Medicare, will only call and ask for personal information in limited situations, such as returning your call after you've joined a plan, reported fraud or left a message for Medicare. Even then, Medicare.gov says that if someone calls and asks for your information or for money, hang up and call Medicare yourself. The FTC adds that Medicare sends cards automatically and free, and never asks you to pay for one.

Any agency. The FTC says government agencies will never call, email, text or message you on social media to ask for money or personal information. There are real exceptions, which is why checking matters more than any rule. A private collection agency working for the IRS may call about an overdue tax bill, but only after you've had two letters, the FTC says. Your state Medicaid office may call, text or email to remind you to renew: federal Medicaid guidance says that when a renewal by phone stopped before it was finished, states may send renewal reminders by automated calls, texts, emails or letters. And the FBI says the U.S. government will never ask you to send money by gift card, cryptocurrency or a wire transfer to a foreign account, while the IRS says of the private collection agencies that work for it, "Make all payments to the IRS. The PCA will never ask you to pay them directly or through prepaid debit, iTunes or gift cards." And from the FTC's July 2025 alert on buying and delivering gold bars: "no one from the government will ever tell you to buy and deliver gold bars, move your money, or give cash to anyone."

What the numbers show

In the FBI's 2025 IC3 Annual Report, people aged 60 and over filed 8,628 complaints about government impersonation, up from 3,517 in 2023, and reported $413 million in losses. These count only complaints filed with the FBI, and only those where the person gave an age, which the FBI's form doesn't require. Writing about business and government impersonators who target older adults, the FTC's August 2025 data spotlight says that from 2020 to 2024, when older adults reported losing more than $100,000, "the number of reports increased nearly sevenfold, and the combined reported losses went up eightfold."

How to check

1. Hang up. On a robocall, don't press any numbers. You can't be arrested for ending a phone call. On a landline, call back from a different phone if you can: North Carolina's Department of Justice has warned that a caller can stay on a landline after you hang up. If you have only the one line, it suggests waiting at least 20 minutes before you lift the receiver, and listening for a normal dial tone before you dial.
2. Don't trust caller ID. The FTC warns it can be faked to show a real agency's name or number.
3. Contact the agency yourself. Type its address into your browser: irs.gov, ssa.gov, medicare.gov, and use the phone number the agency gives there, or on an earlier letter you know is genuine, never the number in the call, message or letter you're checking. Medicare.gov says that if someone calls and asks for your information or for money, hang up and call Medicare yourself. Addresses ending in .gov are only available to U.S.-based government organizations. It has to be the very end of the website name (before the first /, ? or #), or of an email address: a .gov anywhere else, as in irs.gov.pay-now.example or pay-now.example/irs.gov, doesn't count. If you see an @ or a backslash \ before that point, use our link checker: both can hide the real name. pay-now.example\irs.gov, for example, opens pay-now.example. A .gov ending in a sender's address doesn't prove who sent the message, though: the FBI warns that scammers "often spoof authentic phone numbers, email addresses, employee names, and credentials of well-known government and law enforcement agencies."
4. Tell someone you trust, especially if you were told not to.

When "the government" offers to get your money back

Some impostors target people who've already lost money. In July 2026 the FBI warned of criminals impersonating the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, who reach people by email, phone calls, social media and online ads, with fake websites and even AI-generated videos, offering to recover lost funds. The FBI says "IC3 will never ask for payment to recover lost funds," that IC3 will never contact people directly by phone, email, social media or online chat, and that you should type www.ic3.gov yourself and check that the address ends in .gov. If more information is needed about a complaint, it says, people will be contacted by FBI employees from local field offices or other law enforcement officers; you can check such a contact by calling your local FBI field office at a number from fbi.gov, which you type into your browser yourself, not one from a search result or an ad: the FTC warns that "the first search results you see might be paid ads." For people aged 60 and over who need help filing a complaint, the FBI points to the Justice Department's National Elder Fraud Hotline. The hotline's own page warns of scammers "claiming to be from the National Elder Fraud Hotline," so be careful of anyone who calls you saying they're from it.

If you paid or gave your Social Security number

Contact whoever handled the payment straight away. Find its number in its own app, on your receipt, or on its website, typed in yourself, not in a search result or an ad: the FTC warns, "Don't assume the phone number that comes up in search is legit." If you paid by card, call the number on the back of your card. If you handed cash or gold to someone who came to collect it, don't agree to another pickup: report it to your local police, and to the FBI at ic3.gov, as quickly as possible. If you gave personal information, the FTC points to IdentityTheft.gov. Report the call at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Our "if you clicked or paid" page covers each payment method and how to freeze your credit.

Related patterns

• Calls and texts from “your bank’s fraud department”A fraud alert, a code to read back, and a push to move money.
• Texts about an unpaid tollA small toll balance, a late fee and a link to pay.
• Anyone asking you to pay with gift cardsBuy cards, scratch the back, read the numbers.