This is a Pakistan or India based IRS scam. Do not fall for it. The IRS does not initiate any legal action via phone.
Read http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/press/press_tigta-2014-03.htm
As general background information, here are a few things you can do:
1) Report it to TIGTA under http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml especially if you have become a victim (lost money, gave personal information etc.). You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov/complaint (include “IRS Telephone Scam" in your complaint). This way you can also help the government establish specific fraud patterns.
2) Help kill their phone lines but not by calling them back directly (the number may be spoofed and repeat calls by you may - under exceptional circumstances- amount to harassment). The scammers use Voice over IP lines (e.g. magicJack (Ymax corporation)) to make it seem as if they are calling from the US. This is always against these companys' terms of service and can lead to immediate termination of their contract and blocking of their IP addresses for future attempts to register. Do a reverse look up of their telephone number (e.g. www.whitepages.com) to identify the Voice over IP provider and report it to the company and/or law enforcement (local police and/or state attorney general)
3) If you are really annoyed: call or write to your representative in Congress. As these scams happen all over the country maybe this will trigger a reaction and provide US law enforcement agencies with the political backing and the resources they need to work in India and Pakistan together with local authorities (it can happen, read: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ex-call-cen ... mmission-320427). A US task force has already been set up in Jamaica to nab scammers there (see http://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/library/reports/cornerstone/cornerstone7-1.pdf). You can use the following template for your letter (more powerful!) or email:
IMPORTANT: this was a recorded message to my cell phone claiming to be "Julie Smith" [the agent I spoke to said they do have an agent by that name] saying they she is from the IRS and for me or my tax reporter to call back and not ignore this call to avoid legal action being taken. Unsure, I called the IRS and waited close to 50 minutes to talk with a real agent. The IRS NEVER CALLS, the agent told me. they send a letter or a fax but they do NOT call.
www.tigta.gov Look for and click on the red icon [it's on the right side and is the only red icon] IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting. follow the prompts and fill out the form. She told me to write down the required 5 digit code at the end because I may get a call back from tiga personnel and if they don't know the code they are not legit. it's a good idea to visit that site and read about what's been going on with IRS fraud.
fyi I tried calling back using *67 and the first time it sounded like a man answered and then hung up. Next time I tried it went straight to voice mail with no introduction.
My mobile phone number is listed on my tax returns so I find it a bit worrisome that my cell was called from an irs spammer.
There was another 202 call yesterday afternoon about 5:30 but I didn't have my cell phone with me so I don't know if it is related or not. I'll wait till I get home since there is no message on that phone line.
This is a Pakistan or India based IRS scam. Do not fall for it. The IRS does not initiate any legal action via phone.
Read http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/press/press_tigta-2014-03.htm
As general background information, here are a few things you can do:
1) Report it to TIGTA under http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml especially if you have become a victim (lost money, gave personal information etc.). You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at ftc.gov/complaint (include “IRS Telephone Scam" in your complaint). This way you can also help the government establish specific fraud patterns.
2) Help kill their phone lines but not by calling them back directly (the number may be spoofed and repeat calls by you may - under exceptional circumstances- amount to harassment). The scammers use Voice over IP lines (e.g. magicJack (Ymax corporation)) to make it seem as if they are calling from the US. This is always against these companys' terms of service and can lead to immediate termination of their contract and blocking of their IP addresses for future attempts to register. Do a reverse look up of their telephone number (e.g. www.whitepages.com) to identify the Voice over IP provider and report it to the company and/or law enforcement (local police and/or state attorney general)
3) If you are really annoyed: call or write to your representative in Congress. As these scams happen all over the country maybe this will trigger a reaction and provide US law enforcement agencies with the political backing and the resources they need to work in India and Pakistan together with local authorities (it can happen, read: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ex-call-cen ... mmission-320427). A US task force has already been set up in Jamaica to nab scammers there (see http://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/library/reports/cornerstone/cornerstone7-1.pdf). You can use the following template for your letter (more powerful!) or email:
Received a recorded message to my cell phone with someone claiming to be "Julie Smith" saying they she is from the IRS and that I or my tax reporter needs to call back and not ignore this call to avoid legal action being taken against me.
This was so obviously bogus. Besides I work for Treasury Dept and I know IRS does not leave messages like this and doesn't try to collect tax by phone. Anyone who gets a call from someone claiming to be from the IRS - it's a scam. IRS sends letters.
Got a voicemail from this number today with a threatening message. I called back (while at the same time Googling about this number) and had a long conversation with "Jose Garcia, IRS employee number 100288103". I felt Jose had an Indian accent - I maybe wrong but I am Indian myself, and might have heard the accent a time or two.
Anyway, Jose informed me that an arrest warrant was about to be issued in my name and I should get a criminal lawyer. This was for systematic tax fraud since 2007. Also, I was sent certified letters in June that I refused to accept so the IRS thought I was ignoring them. So, Jose informed me that I would be dragged to court and made to pay the outstanding and the legal fees, and have my credit score ruined etc etc. Of course there was one way out, I could pay up the outstanding today itself but not using any traditional source - I needed to get a "bill pay voucher" that could be gotten at a Kroger or similar place.
While this conversation was going on, I saw enough links on my Google search to know that this was a scam, so I told Jose that I was going to call the IRS to verify this information and asked him for is id number. He gave me a number and claimed that they have the legal route and hung up.
Just to be doubly sure, I called the IRS and made sure things were fine, but also reported the scam attempt. Also reported the scam on the Treasury Department's website