Called to say we owed $8400 to the IRS and they had an arrest warrant for us. I asked for verification, they gave me a badge number, the IRS website and told me they'd quash the warrant if we paid immediately. The original called & his "supervisor" had strong Indian accents. Both men gave me badge numbers: IRM41407 & IRM 3234. The ID case number was CP1005TA.
This person.. With a strong indian accent called saying that the IRS is trying to get their monies from me. I have no reason to believe that There is any problem with my income taxes. yesterday, the same person called from 8662064720 saying his name is officer Lynch.
Male, thick Indian accent called and left a message claiming to be Officer Something, not even possible to make out the name he's providing. Informed me that he is with the Tax Crime Investigation Department of the IRS and that they have decided to pursue action against me for some reason -- again, accent is so thick I don't know what my "crime" is alleged to be. Saved the voice mail, will not be calling back.
Got the same call, I believe. Indian guy claiming I am being sued by the IRS, left that message with my partner. I called back to more detail so I can file a report. Other calls in the background. He said I owed a bit less than $2,000 for back taxes, and I must pay by cash bond at my local Big Y. Okay, so he then said to call him at this number when I get to the parking lot, so he can tell me exactly the type of bond to get. Bring photo ID, he said.
He gave me an hour to do so. Said "you do have that kind of cash available, correct?" I will report this on the IRS website. Sad that people would believe this very obvious scam, but I guess it does happen. Thanks for posting.
His number was 202-241-5569. Curious to know if you see the same. did a reverse lookup and it's a landline in DC Indian name attached.
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: