IRS impostor complaints are soaring

Complaints from consumers about scams involving crooks posing as IRS officials rose more than 2,300 percent in 2014, the Federal Trade Commission said on Monday.

And tax-related identity theft is now the most reported form of identity theft, according to statistics the agency released.

The phony IRS calls have prompted warnings from law enforcement and consumer groups nationwide. The scam calls typically involve threats of jail time or other penalties unless a made-up tax bill isn't paid off right away.

Victims say the calls are believable because of how much information the crooks know about their targets.

The caller usually wants payment by transferring funds to a prepaid debit card or via money transfer service like Western Union or MoneyGram. Payment by those means is the same is sending cash, and usually no money can be recovered.

"We've seen an explosion of complaints about callers who claim to be IRS agents -- but are not," Jessica Rich, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. "IRS employees won't call out of the blue and threaten to have you arrested or demand specific methods of payment."

The FTC said its database of complaints, which includes those lodged with a variety of law enforcement and consumer protection agencies, included 2,545 about IRS imposters in 2013. Last year, the figure rose to 54,690.

Another 109,063 people complained about tax-related ID theft -- about one-third of all ID theft complaints. This type mainly involves phony tax returns getting filed before the real taxpayer files, with a refund being sent to the crook.