They called twice today. The first time it went to voice mail and the lady with a British (or Colonial India?) accent said:
"(unintelligible)... XXXX. The nature and the purpose of this call is regarding an enforcement action which has been executed by the US Treasury Department regarding a tax fraud against your lien. Ignoring this will be an intentional event to avoid initial appearance before the 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 415-513-0145. Let me repeat the number is 415-513-0145. Hope to hear from you soon before the charges are pressed against you. Thanks"
The XXXX in the first sentence were actually the last four digits of one of my credit cards. Could be a coincidence I suppose but that was a bit disconcerting. Otherwise, this is a riot! Clearly, whoever made this call didn't bother to learn the fundamental procedures used by our federal courts. They DON'T call you on the telephone, they issue a summons which is served either by USPS Certified mail, a federal process server or a US Marshall. Not certain, but I suppose they could also use local law enforcement in some jurisdictions. Regardless though, it ain't going to be done on the phone, and particularly not in the form of a voice mail! In addition, if it WERE actually someone from the US Treasury Dept., they would have been reading from a script and the script wouldn't have such obvious grammatical errors such as "goes to federal claims courthouse" instead of "goes to THE federal claims courthouse". Also, what is a "claims" courthouse? Why not just the federal courthouse? And finally, what in the world is a "tax fraud against a lien"? Maybe a "tax fraud against your deed" or a "lien against your deed" but a "fraud against a lien"? That makes NO sense.
When the second call came in, I tried to answer it, hoping to have some fun. All I got was a recording saying "the extension you dialed is not a valid extension" or something very much like that.
I suppose there are people who would be scared by this kind of a voice mail but they have no need to fear. This is clearly a scam
They called twice today. The first time it went to voice mail and the lady with a British (or Colonial India?) accent said:
"(unintelligible)... XXXX. The nature and the purpose of this call is regarding an enforcement action which has been executed by the US Treasury Department regarding a tax fraud against your lien. Ignoring this will be an intentional event to avoid initial appearance before the 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 415-513-0145. Let me repeat the number is 415-513-0145. Hope to hear from you soon before the charges are pressed against you. Thanks"
The XXXX in the first sentence were actually the last four digits of one of my credit cards. Could be a coincidence I suppose but that was a bit disconcerting. Otherwise, this is a riot! Clearly, whoever made this call didn't bother to learn the fundamental procedures used by our federal courts. They DON'T call you on the telephone, they issue a summons which is served either by USPS Certified mail, a federal process server or a US Marshall. Not certain, but I suppose they could also use local law enforcement in some jurisdictions. Regardless though, it ain't going to be done on the phone, and particularly not in the form of a voice mail! In addition, if it WERE actually someone from the US Treasury Dept., they would have been reading from a script and the script wouldn't have such obvious grammatical errors such as "goes to federal claims courthouse" instead of "goes to THE federal claims courthouse". Also, what is a "claims" courthouse? Why not just the federal courthouse? And finally, what in the world is a "tax fraud against a lien"? Maybe a "tax fraud against your deed" or a "lien against your deed" but a "fraud against a lien"? That makes NO sense.
When the second call came in, I tried to answer it, hoping to have some fun. All I got was a recording saying "the extension you dialed is not a valid extension" or something very much like that.
I suppose there are people who would be scared by this kind of a voice mail but they have no need to fear. This is clearly a scam
Just for fun, I called them back. A gentleman with a very thick accent (Indian, I think but am not certain) answered with "Internal Revenue Service, how may I help you?". I told him I didn't believe he was with the IRS and asked who he really was and he simply hung up on me.
I've called a bunch of federal offices and agencies, including the IRS, over the years and have NEVER had a human being answer the phone. It always goes to an IVR system first (push 1 for English, push 2 for tax refund status, etc.) What a bunch of idiots!