My wife received a voice message on her cell phone telling her the IRS was going to take her to court and sue her. I called back and did not even get connected, line was busy. Seemed very suspicious. I would think the IRS would send us a registered letter regarding any past tax issues.
My wife received a voice message on her cell phone telling her the IRS was going to take her to court and sue her. I called back and did not even get connected, line was busy. Seemed very suspicious. I would think the IRS would send us a registered letter regarding any past tax issues.
There is a fairly common IRS or "tax scam" being practiced by scammers on both Canadian and USA residents.
USA tax payers should read this:
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Reiterate ... -Telephone-Scam
Short answer:
The IRS never initiates a contact via phone.
They always send a snailmail first.
Educational post:
This scam is also described as scam #11, here:
http://phonehelp.2truth.com/facts_rev.html
Remember to return here, to 800notes.com, after you look at any of the information at that site, either to post more information, or to let us know you avoided the scam, or to read any further information about that number that others may post.
I got a call from them on the 17th. I didn't answer because I don't answer numbers I'm not familiar with. I tried calling that number back and like I thought it couldn't be reached. I work at a police department so I'm familiar with how phone scams work.
They've called me and left message, like "this is IRS and that I'm under investigation." I've received similar call but from different number but same state. I've checked that first number and turn out that I wasn't only one.They are scammers, but now they are changing phone numbers.
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 direction (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: