As tax season peaks, so do IRS impersonators—but what should you do if they call?

With the height of tax season looming in the next few weeks, more people are reporting suspicious phone calls from people pretending to be the Internal Revenue Service.

Experts say to ignore these communications, whether they're threatening phone calls or fishy emails, though many times the people on the other end of the line can catch people off guard. 

Rebecca Weseman is one of those people, receiving a call recently from a local number with a man on the other end saying she had a warrant out for her arrest. She knew not to give any personal information, but the call was unsettling nonetheless.

“[I remember] being scared and really threatened, and feeling like my safety is on the line,” she said. “They just kept threatening me and kept saying there is a warrant—you’re going to be arrested, the police are coming, and every time I tried to ask information they just got more threatening.”

Video of an Eau Claire, Wis., officer went viral last year after he was contacted by one of these impersonators, taking a lengthy call to toy with the man on the other end of the line. 

It was funny, certainly, says accountant Douglas McDonald, though he advises anyone who receives one of those calls to just hang up--you'll know when the real IRS tries to contact you.

“If you’re in trouble with the IRS—you’re going to know long before a phone call is received," he said. "You’ll have received a lot of correspondence—it’s not going to be a surprise to you.”