The Internal Revenue Service issued a consumer alert Thursday providing taxpayers with additional tips to protect themselves from telephone scam artists calling and pretending to be with the IRS.

These callers may demand money or may say you have a refund due and try to trick you into sharing private information. These scammers can sound convincing when they call. They may know a lot about an individual and they usually alter the caller ID to make it look like the IRS is calling. They use fake names and bogus IRS identification badge numbers. If a call isn’t answered, they often leave an “urgent” callback request.

“If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and threatens police arrest, deportation, lawsuit or license revocation if you don’t pay immediately, that is a sign that it really isn’t the IRS calling,” said Karen Connelly, IRS spokeswoman. “The first IRS contact with taxpayers on a tax issue will occur via mail. Don’t get involved in a tax scam or be bullied by a con artist.”

The IRS reminds people how to spot an “IRS” caller as a fake. Here are five things the scammers often do but the IRS will not do. The IRS will never:

1. Call about taxes owed without first mailing an official notice.

2. Demand that taxes be payed without giving the opportunity to question or appeal the amount they say you owe.

3. Require people to use a specific payment method for your taxes, such as a prepaid debit card.

4. Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

5. Threaten to bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have you arrested for not paying.

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and asking for money, here’s what you should do:

If you know you owe taxes or think you might owe, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. IRS employees can help you with a payment method or plan.

If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to believe that you do, report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) at 1.800.366.4484 or at www.tigta.gov.

If you’ve been targeted by this scam, also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov. Please add “IRS Telephone Scam” to the comments of your complaint.