I called this number back after they left a message saying I owed money. They claimed to represent the IRS and that I owed money to the US Treasury in excess of $3700. I told them that could no way be correct. They also claimed that I failed to respond to the previous 2 notices they sent me and that I was no longer available to respond that I would need to get a criminal lawyer to prevent jail time.
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:
Scammers for sure, and lame ones. Called them back; a guy answered and I could hear lots of commotion in the background. He said Hello and then hung up before I could say anything. I called back 5 more times, but they just lifted the phone and hung it up again each time.
Call from 1-831-250-8070. Female with thick accent. Asked for my husband's name. I asked as to why they were calling and was told there was a criminal suit filed against him for a debt to the US Treasury. I replied with, "Good luck collecting that one, my husband died in September!" (not a lie) Caller said, "He died???" I confirmed and she quickly hung up.