With many taxpayers in the middle of tax-filing season, it looks like the tax scammers are even busier.

A report last week from the Associated Press found that at least 366,000 people have been targeted by harassing phone calls from people claiming to be IRS agents. Once the scammers have their target on the phone, they apply pressure for immediate payment using scare tactics such as claiming an arrest warrant is coming or police are on their way.

The scammers pretending to be IRS agents are calling everyone, although some reports suggest the elderly are targeted. But to prove that the scammers will call anyone, the man who oversees investigations for the IRS, Timothy Camus, who serves at high level in the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), told a Senate panel last week that he was called by scammers. If Camus can be targeted, anyone can be targeted.

The first message from the IRS and experts on tax scams is not to be intimidated, not to pay anyone money using a prepaid debit card, which is hard to trace and a favorite method of tax scammers. The IRS also notes that it does not call taxpayers over tax issues; it sends letters. Granted, they can be unpleasant letters and letters that have at least veiled threats of tapping a bank account, but the IRS does not call on the phone demanding immediate payment.

Anyone receiving such a call should ask for a name and phone number to call back. They should also call a relative, a trusted friend or the local police department to ask about the call and the demands for immediate payment. Better yet, they should call the IRS. There is a website for TIGTA that can handle complains of tax scams. The TIGTA toll-free number is 800-366-4484.

Last month, just such a telephone tax scam targeted state Rep. Brian Ellis of Butler. Ellis said the caller threatened failure to pay would lead to the arrest of himself and his wife.

That scammers would try to shake down a state representative is evidence of the widespread nature of the problem. U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said he received one of the scam calls, but realized it was not a real IRS agent.

Camus told the Senate committee, the criminals “are calling people everywhere, of all income levels and backgrounds.”

The numbers are startling — 366,000 people being called and 3,000 being conned out of $15.5 million. No doubt this number is a low-ball figure. Some people might be reluctant to report being scammed out of embarrassment.

The best defense against this or any IRS tax scam is knowledge, and resisting the pressure to quickly load up a prepaid debit card and transfer the balance to someone who will probably never be caught by law enforcement.

These scams are made with random phone calls and intimidation. A new headache for the IRS and taxpayers is tax fraud based on stolen Social Security numbers in which thieves submit bogus claims for tax refunds they are not owed. Too often, the IRS wires the money to a bank account or mails a check before the fraud is detected, which is often when the legitimate taxpayer files his or her claim for a refund and the IRS tells them it was already paid — to a thief.

With taxes on people’s mind, this is a good time to be on guard against any and all scams. With more people aware of the scams, fewer people will be cheated by tax-scam thieves.