A person (with last name of either Hoffman or Kauffman) claiming to be work for the IRS Criminal Investigation Division left a message on my answering machine informing me that there has been a notice issued against my name and for me to urgently return his call by contacting this "hotline" number - (202) 241-1272.
I have not called or intend to call this number. However, I will call TIGTA (Treasury Inspector General for Taxpayer Administration) @ 800-366-4484 to report the unsolicited call. I will also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission thru their website: www.FTC.gov
A person (with last name of either Hoffman or Kauffman) claiming to be work for the IRS Criminal Investigation Division left a message on my answering machine informing me that there has been a notice issued against my name and for me to urgently return his call by contacting this "hotline" number - (202) 241-1272.
I have not called or intend to call this number. However, I will call TIGTA (Treasury Inspector General for Taxpayer Administration) @ 800-366-4484 to report the unsolicited call. I will also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission thru their website: www.FTC.gov
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. 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 phone call from 202-241-1272. The idiot could barely speak English, I couldn't even understand him. He was trying to say something about the IRS noticed a scam against me or something like that He wasn't even making sense.
He wanted my SS#... I kept leading him on until he just hung-up on me. What a loser !!
Left a message on my answering machine claiming to be David Fisher attorney, with an urgent message to call back regarding a criminal matter pending against me.
Sr Office Peter Ross, Badge # 2618F3, Warrant ID# IRS20143648, Case# 00/1003672, was "helping me out" by letting me pay my IRS error on Forms 1040 & 1090 on tax yrs 2008-2012. The amount was $4786.92. (This puts it under the $5000 amount legal action) He referred me to Homeland Security Officer Shirley Cruz, Badge# 2689FV. It was a "3-way" call (IRS-Homeland Security-me). His solution to my problem was to get in my car, go to a location and buy government bonds at a location with cash (because my accounts were frozen), then go to my local IRS office to receive my documents, corrected IRS return and receipt. All the time i would be on the phone with him because he would supply the info to the tellers.
After talking to my CPA and attorney, they both said it was a scam. The kicker part - after I hung up the phone with "Officer Ross", I received a call. The caller ID said it was from my local police dept. "Officer Ryan Johnson" was calling to let me know that he going to serve an arrest warrant issued by IRS Officer Ross and was verifying that I was at home. While I had him on one phone, I called our PD and asked about if Officer Johnson was on his way and was notified that they didn't have anyone by that name in the department. Before I could talk to "Officer" Johnson, he hung up.
Lessons Learned:
1) Don't immediately call back
2) Search the phone number and READ the comments. I looked at results but not long or in-depth enough. I could have saved myself couple of hours on the phone.
3) If you think its sounds weird or out of sink, it is. I've been audited in the past. There is a set procedure that they have to notify you. These guys came out of the blue. I asked about the other two times they tried to contact me, and it sounded fishy.
I just listened to the phone message again and he identified himself as Darin Scott. But when I returned call his name was Peter Ross.