Got two calls from 703-879-8941 so far today, both about 5 hours apart and from a woman with a heavy eastern Indian accent. I don't answer calls that I do not recognize or expect due to telemarketers, especially when the presidential election season is starting, so I let it go to voice mail. I listened to the voice mail and by the end of the message I knew it was a scam. It's a canned recorded message.
The pitch goes a little like this: This person states they are calling from Legal Affairs Tech Crimes Investigation Unit of Internal Revenue Service. They state they've been trying to reach me for "months and months" about very important issues. They received an affidavit regarding a tax evasion on my name. I'm instructed to call 703-879-8941. She warns not to disregard her message and do call back and if I'm too busy to have my region attorney (wth is that?) do it for me. A delay in calling back might end up in a "legal mess" for me. Further, they will be forced to contact the local sheriff office and register this case against my name.
Now folks, does this sound anything remotely similar to what the IRS would say? They don't start out with phone calls and they don't dun you over the phone. The IRS garnishes wages, freezes bank accounts, and confiscates property. The IRS doesn't need to plead with you to pay; they will take as they please.
I so badly want to call them and terrorize them over the phone or reverse spoof them into thinking I'm calling from the NSA, but I think ignoring them is the best solution. This is tax season... expecting more of the same.
Calling from legal affairs department of IRS regarding a tax evasion on my name. Woman with an Indian accent that is obviously reading. She said if I don't call back she would have to call the local sheriff to "unintelligible"......
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.