On Wednesday, I received a message from (415) 234-9598, saying she was Jane Smith from the IRS and that I needed to return a call immediately to prevent legal action. Was unable to call back till Friday afternoon, got some guy who's English I could not understand, who forwarded me to another accented person who said the IRS was taking legal action against me and that I had to make arrangements right there and did I have a lawyer. I almost threw up from the stress. Anyways, I did nothing and the jerk called back 6 times in a row which I did not answer. Had me going for a few hours of worry though! My friend said this scam was just on 9 news. Beware, and please tell other people about it!
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://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ex-call-cen ... 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:
Computer-generated voicemail message received 07 NOV 2014/Friday. "Representative" from the IRS informing me that I owe $$ and to call back immediately 415 234 9598. "*69" first, then dialed the 415 number. "Star 69" blocks my phone identity.
Took about three tries to get a hold of a "human (?)". He failed to provide his name, but does not matter. i had about 10 minutes (of free time) to play around with the idiot. He had (east) Indian or Pakistani accent and his English was terrible. Informed him that I wish to pay what I owe to the IRS; just give me the dollar amount and the method of payment. He asked for my tax ID number. I complied with a fictitious number. He then checked his data bank and asked if I was " John W." Told him that I am E. M. Richard and I'll do whatever it takes to pay the IRS and pleaded with him NOT to send the police to my house and arrest me. I was, then, transferred to a supervisor, Alan Cooper. He provided the dollar amount and preliminary instructions to follow. I was asked if I was close to a store like CVS or Rite-Aid. Informed him that I can easily go to my bank, withdraw money, and pay what I owe. I pleaded NOT to call the police for I do not wish to go to jail. I am to proceed to my bank and upon arrival, use my cell phone to call him for further instructions. It's about this time the dryer buzzer went off, so I had to terminate the dialogue with Alan Cooper with "Goodbye, a**hole".
Had a recorded telephone message from Officer Julie Smith from the IRS, asking me to call her back at 415-234-9598. She said it was "time sensitive" and I needed to call her, or have my attorney call. When I looked up the number on line, I see it is a SCAM! These people need to be apprehended and stopped from preying on innocent folks. Thank you!