I got the same message as reported by a few folks already; salient points:
- male, accent almost definitely from India; age: 30's to 40's
- claimed his name was Steve Martin, like the actor, and that I owed money to the Treasury
- that this was his second attempt to contact me (first I'd heard of this)
- and that I needed to call back to 323-723-3454 or face a magistrate court or grand jury
He ended with "Please help us to help you".
After quickly realizing how ridiculously stupid was the scam, I then wondered how desperate must someone be to work for whoever is running this operation. Maybe the person who identifies himself as Steve Martin and these other callers got scammed and are trying to earn back the money they lost.
This guy called me twice the first time I wasn't home and he left a message that I owed $3000 on my 2011 income tax and to return his call or he would have a warrent put out for my arrest. I returned the called and got a "The person at EXT 7409 is on the phone leave a message". I told him I was returning his call and he called me the next day saying he was with the US Treasury Dept and that I owed back taxes for 2011 and that he was fixing to issue a warrant for my arrest and that within 45 minutes officers would be at my door. He the said if I didn't want to be arrested that I could take the phone with me and go to the bank withdraw the money and send in a pre-loaded debit card or wire the money and I was to stay on the line the whole time. After about 10 minutes told him that I would have to have my lawyer look things over. He then got upset and told me to be prepared to be arrested and hung up. I am still waiting for a knock on the door lol. Be careful this is a obvious scam .
Thanks for the post - i received a similar call today, Aug 12, 2014, from a woman with an accent, possibly Asian, who knew my name and called on my cell phone (not difficult to find out obviously) from 323 723 3454 who said she was from the USTreasury and wanted to know if i knew an action had been started against me. I said no and that she had the wrong person, she responded angrily, no, she had the right person and if i wanted more information i had to call Robert James at this same 323 number, right away, today. I called and got a voicemail not identifying it as the US Treasury or anything else, then i thought it must be a scam or worse. And this confirms it is.
I just received a call from a man stating that I owed federal taxes in the amount of 4100. He said I had exhausted all of my chances to pay and I would be arrested in 45 min. I asked what my other options would be and he said he would talk to his supervisor to stop the warrant. I had a feeling it was a scam from the start but wanted to see how far they would go. I'm sending out a warning to everyone I know on Facebook so that no one gets taken.