INDIANAPOLIS – Some students are scrambling to pay their “Federal Student Tax” before the Internal Revenue Service arrests them for back taxes.

In Indiana and elsewhere, hundreds of college students have received calls from scammers posing as IRS agents who have demanded payment for the fictitious tax and threatened to send the authorities if they don’t pay up, Fox 59 reports.

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“That just doesn’t exist,” said Justin Hazlett, with the Office of the Indiana Attorney General.

Hazlett said the scam, which evolved from similar rip-offs targeted at the elderly and others who are naive about taxes, is more common this year as groups targeted in the past have wised up to the telephone ruse.

“Around this time last year, the AG’s office received around 1,500 complaints about the IRS scam,” according to the news site. “This year, the office has already surpassed that number at 1,709 complaints and a total of $37,660 in losses.

“In 2014, the total number of IRS complaints was 1,100.”

“These younger persons are … at a point in their lives where they are establishing credit. They don’t want to have a bad hit – if you will – against their credit, so the scammers have probably figured out they can get traction with those sorts of receptive audiences,” Hazlett said. “The best protection here though for consumers is just immediately hang up.”

The Attorney General’s office is asking anyone who receives a call about unpaid “Federal Student Tax” to report it to the agency.

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The IRS is also warning taxpayers about the student scam.

“These scams and schemes continue to evolve nationwide, and now they’re trying to trick students,” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said in a statement, according to AccountingWeb.com. “Taxpayers should remain vigilant and not fall prey to these aggressive calls demanding immediate payment of a tax supposedly owed.”

The IRS outlined several tactics used in the scam, including demand for immediate tax payment on an iTunes gift card, requests for W-2 information from payroll professionals, verifying tax information over the phone, and scammers posing as tax preparation professionals.

The agency contends IRS agents will never:

  • Call to demand immediate payment over the phone, nor will the agency call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill.
  • Threaten to immediately bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.
  • Demand that you pay taxes without giving you the opportunity to question or appeal the amount it says you owe.
  • Require you to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.
  • Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

The IRS suggests those targeted by the student tax scam to hang up immediately and report the call to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration using the IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting web page or by calling 1-800-366-4484.