If you have received this type of call purporting to be "from the Legal Affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department", report the call to the U.S. Treasury, as I have: If they claim to be from Treasury, report it to
[email protected] with a description. If it was a phone contact, include:
· the exact date and time that you received the call(s)
· the phone number of the caller
· the geographic location and time zone where you received the call
· a description of the communication.
If they claim to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or it is about taxes, report it to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at:
· https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml
After reporting the call, I received the following response from OIG Counsel:
Thank you for your email. If you have received an unsolicited call from an individual purporting to be from the Internal Revenue Service or the Department of the Treasury, and/or making threats of legal action or even promises of federal grant funds, it is a fraud.
There are a number of similar scams, some of which can be quite persuasive: in some, the scammers have done brief Internet research of potential victims so they appear to be familiar with their victim's personal details, and they use this information as a springboard to obtain more. You may report scams regarding the IRS at the following site:
Https://treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml. Other scams can be reported to the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov, (or call 1-877-FTC-HELP) and internet (email) frauds to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.
Please be aware that phone numbers and email addresses can be "spoofed" to appear to be generated from a federal agency. We encourage you to continue to be extremely wary of unsolicited telephone or e-mail communications, particularly those that request personal information, contain a sudden offer of some prize or grant, or make monetary demands.
Complaints regarding fraud, waste, or abuse in the Department of the Treasury, excluding the IRS, may be reported at www.treasury.gov/about/organizational-structu ... otlineForm.aspx.
We have noted that some systems do not download operational links from this autoreply, instead generating the links as duplicate address texts. If your system is experiencing these issues, we thank you for your patience while we attempt to fix this issue. These sites can also be accessed by either typing in the specific www. or https:\\ address, or locating and clicking the site via a search engine.
Sincerely,
Office of Counsel
I've received two calls, one in August and the most recent today, Sept. 13, 2016. Both calls sounded like a recorded playback with two minor differences - the badge number and call back number. In each case the first part of the message had played before my voicemail began recording. The following voicemail was received @ 2:44pm PST Sept. 13, 2016: “…andra James, and I am calling you from the Legal Affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department. My badge number is 3029. The nature and the purpose of this call is regarding an enforcement action, which has been executed by the U.S. Treasury Department regarding a tax fraud against your name. Ignoring this will be an intentional attempt to avoid initial appearance before a magistrate judge or a grand jury for a federal criminal offense. So, before this matter goes to federal claims courthouse or before you get arrested, kindly call us back on our number as soon as possible. The number to reach us is 305-330-6237. Let me repeat, the number is 305330-6237. Hope to hear from you soon before the charges are pressed against you. Thanks.”
As the OIG states, this type of call is a fraud.