The Treasury’s Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has made arrests of people involved in phone scams aimed at separate populations.

Five persons were arrested for calling people claiming to be from the IRS, and told the victims would be arrested if they did not make payment of overdue taxes immediately. They got an average of $5,700 per taxpayer.

The phony tax collector scam has taken a new twist: targeting college students. NC college stu-dents are reporting calls from imposters posing as IRS agents demanding that students pay a federal stu-dent tax immediately (the tax really doesn’t exist). The scammers claim the tax is connected to student loans and threaten students with arrest or loss of degrees if they don’t pay right away.

No legitimate IRS official will demand that anyone make payments by wiring money or by pre-paid debit cards. Hang up on these fraudulent callers, and report the call to the TIGTA (you can find the address and phone number on the IRS website