Though people continue to be menaced by threatening phone calls from fraudsters posing as IRS agents, the service has warned of a new breed of scams using the carrot instead of the stick. The IRS has received reports over the last few weeks of scammers calling people saying they have your tax return and that they just need a few last details to process it. These details include Social Security numbers, bank numbers, or credit card numbers. The IRS said these calls, versus those connected to more aggressive scams, are quite polite. 

“These schemes continue to adapt and evolve in an attempt to catch people off guard just as they are preparing their tax returns,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in a statement. “Don’t be fooled. The IRS won’t be calling you out of the blue asking you to verify your personal tax information or aggressively threatening you to make an immediate payment.”

The IRS has struggled to protect taxpayers from identity theft, particularly this year: the service has reported a 400 percent increase in phishing schemes over last year. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, in the statement, said he himself has calls trying to trick him into revealing personal information.