They left a message saying they are IRS that I should call them or legal action taken against me. They said I should give them $100,000.00 or they will take me to a local court and my house and car taken from me. Also, my bank account and 401k will be frozen.
I received an automated message telling me to call this number pertaining to a time sensitive matter or the IRS was going to take me to court--this is a red flag right off the bat. I called 202-795-2497 several times, receiving another automated message stating that "this number is not available at this time," followed by the voice saying, "2-oh-2." This was a red flag, as it didn't seem authentic. I finally received a live person on the other end who said, "Thank you for calling the Internal Revenue Service, what can I do to help you?" in accented English that sounded like he was from Anglophone West Africa--red flag due to all the Nigerian 419 scams. I told him I had received an automated message telling me to call this number. He then struggled to pronounce my wife's name and said that he could only talk with her about an issue that pertained only to her. Since we file jointly, that was a red flag--perhaps he thought he could intimidate my wife more easily? So I asked him to verify that he was actually from the IRS. He told me to call 1-800-829-1040--the IRS toll-free number--and hung up on me. This was my final red flag. This is a scam, trying to intimidate people into providing money and/or access to bank and credit card accounts.