Scammers are posing as IRS agents and stealing people's money. One man's story proves it can happen to anyone.

Credit: Jeffrey Hazelwood / Mashable Composite; Liudmyla Lishchyshyna/OlyaSolodenko/Allvisionn/iStock/Getty Images Plus Brad K. was — to put it mildly — exhausted. In May 2024, he was a brand-new father to a weeks-old baby, balancing the new responsibility with his role as a husband and dog dad."They say the three biggest life stressors are having a kid, moving, and starting a new job," he said in an interview with Mashable. "And I did all three at the same time, within a month of one another."Sleep deprived and facing one of life's most stress-inducing transitions, Brad, admittedly, wasn't his normal, clearheaded self when an unknown number called him after a long day of grocery and Home Depot runs, driving home with dinner for him and his wife.A man was on the other end, speaking in what Brad recognized as a regional accent. He explained, with the lack of urgency stereotypically associated with civil servants, that Brad had misfiled his taxes. He still owed more than $800 to the fede...