Got incoming message from this number (a level 3 mobile out of Flagler Beach, FL) at 10:33 am. Heavy Asian (Indian, Pakistani)accent. Self-indentified as "Dennis Gray." Advised that he wanted to help me resolve a pending US Treasury "enforcement action" against me in either US Court or Grand Jury (2nd notice, yet!) Sounds like the growing IRS demand caper being spawned in advent of April 15 tax deadline.
Caller said he was with the Treasury Department and that I owed back taxes. Told me that if I hung up he would call law enforcement and have me arrested within 45 minutes. That I needed to agree to pay the money and then he would tell me when and where to pay it. He is very aggressive with foreign accent. New my name, husbands name and our address. When I ask him for my SSN he got very defensive, so I hung up.
These are criminal extortionists operating in overseas boiler rooms using VOIP to alter their identities and locations and out of the reach of US law enforcement.
If someone calls saying he's an IRS agent and demands that you send money immediately, hang up.
It's a phone scam.In fact, it tops the IRS "Dirty Dozen" list of tax scams this year, and it's been surging in recent months, the agency said Thursday.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), which oversees the IRS, has received reports of 290,000 scam calls since October 2013 and said nearly 3,000 victims have been swindled out of $14 million so far.
By altering their caller ID number to make it look like they're calling from an IRS office, these scammers often threaten vulnerable people like the elderly and new immigrants with things like arrest, deportation or the loss of their driver's license if they don't pay immediately for money purportedly owed.
Often leaving messages that say it's "urgent" you call them back, the scammers use common names and sometimes say they are from the IRS Criminal Division. They may even claim to know the last four digits of your Social Security number and send follow-up emails that appear to be from the IRS, TIGTA said.
They often demand that payments be made by prepaid debit card.
Once they make their threats, the scammers have been known to call back and again disguise their caller ID so it appears they are calling from the police department or the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
Or sometimes when they call, they may say you have a refund due and ask you to provide personal information so you can claim it.
The real IRS will usually contact you by regular mail first, if it needs to contact you at all. And the agency never demands immediate payment by phone or asks for credit card or debit numbers if they do call. It also never asks for personal or financial information by email, text or social media.
If you get what you suspect is a scam call, report it to TIGTA through its Web site or call 800-366-4484.
As these scammers (proven by NBC, ABC & CBS) are located in foreign countries, do exactly what you did - hang up. What are they going to do? Catch the next bus from Asia? As soon as people refuse to speak with them, and call these numbers back, you start to cut off the money. What's a foreign criminal without money? Just a foreign criminal.