USCIS or the IRS Won't Call for Gift Card Payment

If someone calling as USCIS, the IRS, or Chinese police or a Chinese embassy or consulate demands immediate payment and threatens arrest or deportation, hang up and check through official channels yourself. USCIS says it does not collect fees by phone or email and does not accept gift cards, Western Union, PayPal or Venmo; the IRS says it will not call demanding immediate payment by gift card, prepaid card or wire transfer, and cannot revoke your immigration status; the FBI warns that people posing as Chinese law enforcement use spoofed caller IDs and realistic fake arrest warrants, so do not give out personal information or send money.

How to spot each scam and where to report it is set out section by section, all from official sources.

Three kinds of impersonation in one table

USCIS only takes fees through your online account

The USCIS common scams page says (USCIS):

• Never collects fees by phone or email: USCIS will never ask you to transfer money to an individual, and will never ask you to pay a fee by phone or email.
• Payment methods it does not accept: Western Union, MoneyGram, PayPal, Venmo and gift cards.
• Online payments only through your account: fees you can pay online are paid only from your USCIS online account, at a web address ending in .gov.
• No personal social media: USCIS contacts you only through official government channels, not through your personal social media accounts.
• Check the sender: US government email addresses always end in .gov. USCIS does not routinely email you to say you have been approved, with a few exceptions, such as asking you to update your address.
• Job offers from overseas: an offer that asks you to pay money first may be a scam. Even with a real offer, you need a green card, an EAD or a visa that lets you work for that employer before you can start.

If you were scammed, USCIS asks you to report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC; USCIS links to IdentityTheft.gov) or your state consumer protection office.

The IRS will not call asking you to buy gift cards

The IRS says it starts most contacts by mail; it calls or visits only in cases such as an overdue tax bill or an audit, and usually only after sending several letters first (IRS). The IRS says it will not:

• Demand immediate payment by a specific method: such as a prepaid debit card, gift card or wire transfer. It generally mails a bill first.
• Demand payment without giving you the chance to question or appeal.
• Threaten to have police or immigration officers arrest you: the IRS also cannot revoke your driver’s license, business licenses or immigration status.
• Ask you to pay anyone other than the U.S. Treasury: IRS payment options are at irs.gov/payments.
• If someone visits: IRS employees who visit always show two forms of official credentials, a pocket commission and an HSPD-12 card.

Report phone scams to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) through its IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting page, or call 800-366-4484; you can also report to the FTC. Forward emails that impersonate the IRS to phishing@irs.gov.

Chinese police or consulate impersonators no personal data, no money

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) says (FBI IC3):

• How it works: criminals pose as China’s Ministry of Public Security, a local Public Security Bureau, a Chinese embassy or consulate in the US, or prosecutors, tell you that you are a suspect in a financial crime, and threaten arrest or violence if you do not pay.
• Fake numbers: they spoof caller IDs so the call appears to come from the police or a consulate, and may also contact you through online apps.
• Fake documents: they may show you realistic-looking arrest warrants, or know some details about you, to seem legitimate.
• Pressure: they create urgency so you act right away.
• What to do: if a stranger contacts you and accuses you of a crime, do not give out personal information and do not send money. An official-looking number is not proof that the call is official.
• Foreign officials: foreign government officials doing legitimate law enforcement in the US must act in coordination with US federal authorities.
• Demands for 24/7 video: an FBI notice from January 2024 says these scams especially target Chinese students at US universities. The caller says the case is sensitive and tells you to agree to 24/7 video and audio monitoring, not to talk about it, not to search online and to report your daily activities, then to wire a large sum to a Chinese bank account to “prove your innocence” or post bail. Do not consent to the monitoring (FBI IC3 2024).
• Fake calls are not only from “consulates”: the caller ID may also show a phone company, a large retailer or a delivery service before the call is “transferred” to a provincial police department. To check whether a call is official, look up the agency’s number from public sources yourself and call it directly.
• Contact your local FBI office: an FBI notice from April 2023 asks you to contact your local FBI field office and report to IC3 (FBI IC3 2023).

When you report to IC3, describe the caller’s websites, phone numbers, emails, the accounts that received money (bank, wire, prepaid card, cryptocurrency wallet) and what happened, even if no money was lost; keep all original documents and call logs.

SSA impersonators hang up and call the official number yourself

We could not open SSA’s scam page or the SSA Office of the Inspector General’s explanation page when we checked on 2026-10-28, so this article could not read SSA’s own rules about scam calls and does not say what SSA will or will not do. Two things are certain:

• SSA’s number: 800-772-1213 (the SSA number the IRS lists in Notice 1392,IRS). If someone calls claiming to be SSA, hang up and call this number yourself.
• Reporting: the SSA Office of the Inspector General’s reporting page takes reports of “a suspicious call, letter, text, or email about an alleged problem with your Social Security number, account, or payments.” On the day we checked, the page said the system was having technical issues; if it fails, try again.

Frequently asked questions

If the caller ID shows an official number, is the call real?

Not necessarily. FBI IC3 says scammers spoof caller IDs, and an official number is not proof.

Will USCIS call and ask me to pay a fee?

No. USCIS says it does not collect fees by phone or email; online payments go only through your USCIS online account.

Will the IRS say it will cancel my green card if I don’t pay?

No. The IRS says it cannot revoke your immigration status and will not threaten to have immigration officers arrest you.

Someone claiming to be Chinese police says I am a suspect. What should I do?

Do not give out personal information or send money, and report it to FBI IC3. The FBI says foreign officials doing law enforcement in the US must coordinate with US federal authorities.

I already paid. What now?

Report it according to who was impersonated: USCIS scams to the FTC or your state consumer protection office, IRS scams to TIGTA, Chinese police scams to FBI IC3. Keep the receiving accounts, transaction records and messages.

Save the official channels

You can set up your USCIS, SSA and IRS accounts and contacts one by one with the My USA Plan checklist : the first 30 items are free, and the full 91 items cost US$9.90 once, not a subscription. For other first-year pitfalls, see 8 first-year misunderstandings for new immigrants; for every deadline, see the first-year deadline table for new immigrants.

For who can help with immigration paperwork and how to avoid notarios and fake consultants, see Immigration Paperwork Help, Only Lawyers and DOJ Reps Advise.

Sources and dates checked

All checked on 2026-10-27. This article is not legal advice.

• USCIS common scams:https://www.uscis.gov/scams-fraud-and-misconduct/avoid-scams/common-scams
• IRS How to know it's really the IRS: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/how-to-know-its-really-the-irs-calling-or-knocking-on-your-door
• FBI IC3 Chinese Authority Impersonation: https://www.ic3.gov/CrimeInfo/ChineseAuthorityImpersonation
• FBI IC3 PSA 2024-01-03 Chinese Police Imposters Incorporate Aggressive Tactics: https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA240103
• FBI IC3 PSA 2023-04-10 Criminals Pose as Chinese Authorities: https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2023/PSA230410
• SSA OIG reporting page:https://oig.ssa.gov/report/
• IRS Notice 1392 (SSA phone number):https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/n1392.pdf

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