I knew it was a scam from the begining, first of all the IRS would send you a letter if you owed them money, they don't call you. Second the IRS is a federal agency they are AGENTS not officers and the feds never call themselves officers proven fact. Third his english was off and he used words in the wrong context. Sad thing some people will fall for this scam, hopefully our tips will help stop it.
I got a call today from the “IRS” stating that my wife was being investigated for tax fraud. when I explained to then that we file join returns so I should be involved in this as well I was transferred to a supervisor.
I explain to the supervisor that I had not receive any official mail or documentation on the matter he provide a badge number. I told him I did not believe he was from the IRS. At this point he told me that the police and local IRS officers would be there to lock me up tomorrow. So I called the number back 202-241-8024 using my office phone and got this voice mail. which was someone speaking broken english. 20 minutes later I got a call form 876-421-0661 (Same guy different name) on my office phone. I had him on for about 10 minutes just planing with him.
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://m.ndtv.com/article/india/ex-call-centr ... 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:
I knew it was a scam from the begining, first of all the IRS would send you a letter if you owed them money, they don't call you. Second the IRS is a federal agency they are AGENTS not officers and the feds never call themselves officers proven fact. Third his english was off and he used words in the wrong context. Sad thing some people will fall for this scam, hopefully our tips will help stop it.
Last night I received two voice messages from this number on my home line stating that this was an IRS Agent and if we did not call back we would face legal issues. This morning I called back from my office and spoke with someone who claimed to be an IRS agent. I requested that he identify himself and he said his name was " Cean White ". Really ?
I posted a complaint on the TIGTA website in hopes this will stop from happening to other people.
This is the third time I received calls from this number. A recoding states it is the ITS and they are taking legal action if I don't call back. IRS sends letters, they don't call.
The first time the recording has this crazy Austrailian accent and used words that aren't used in that context in the English language.
This morning they called and no one was there when I picked up.
They just called now, I got the recording, at least no crazy Austrailian accent, but same stupid message. I called back and was disconnected. Called back a second time, a guy answered and I told him-" you guys are a f____ing joke- stop your stupid auto dialer from calling me." He yelled- "What did you say!?.."
I told him-" you guys are a fraud, just stop calling already." He slammed down the phone.