213-293-3591

James Stevens calling from Department of Legal Affairs at the US Treasury about legal actions started against my name.

The following message was left:

"Hi, this message is intended to contact you. My name is Steve Martin and I'm calling regarding an imposement action executed by the United States treasury intending for a viewers attention. Ignoring this will be an intentional second attempt towards initial appearance with a magistrate judge or a grand jury for a federal criminal offense. My number is 213-293-3591. I repeat my number is 213-293-3591. I advise for you to cooperate with us and help us to help you. Thank you."

Note the statement in the beginning. "This message is intended to contact YOU." Yes, that's correct. No name was given. He actually used the vague term "you" as though my name (or anybody else in my household) was not known and thus the message is completely generic and bogus.

I got the same EXACT message and he's been calling every 10-15 minutes.

Had a similar vm from same number. suggested I call back or have an attorney call back. Could barely understand what they were saying though they did use a horribly mis-pronounced version of my name.

I just received the same call, they left a VM. The accent is odd, almost sounds like the people when you call Citibank customer service. I had to listen several times to the message before I could make out all of the words. The caller sounds very forceful, I am sure many people will return the call in a panic. I hope not, as they are probably a well oiled machine. As pointed out above, there was never a reference to me personally, just to "you".

I just received the same call.  It urged me to call back.  When I did, he was on the line.  He said his federal employee # is 17123.  He said that I owed such and such on a previous year's taxes, and that I will be under arrest when the phone call completes.

He is certainly impersonating a federal agent - and I feel he is committing a serious, illegal offense.

I got the same message left on my home phone.  If you have been watching TV news lately, you should have known this that this is an extortion, a tactic targeted for the elderly mostly.

I got this call a few minutes ago and the caller Steve Martin read out and left the message twice. Very threatening and makes you vulnerable. I did not call back.

Got this exact message. It sounds very scammy. I told my wife not to call it back.

Confirmed fraud attempt (department of legal affairs of US Treasury script). 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. 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:

https://800notes.com/forum/ta-a9526ebadc65cf9 ... 558497927242748

We got the same exact message as JF today on voice mail. Phone said unknown name but number listed as calling from 949-873-8412 even though that was not the caller 'Steve Martin' left. Sounded very threatening & message repeated about 3 times on the voice mail message.

Got two messages in a row, within 2 hours, from phone number 949-873-8412

I don't believe the US Treasury would contact people over the phone, so I assume this is some kind of scam. Glad to see I'm not the only one targeted!

I decided to call Steve Martin back.  I told him I was Chevy Chase and asked him if he and Martin Short were interested in getting the gang back together for a "Three Amigos" sequel.  He hung up on me.  I thought we were amigos.

That is awesome.  I got the same call only the number was 323-786-6714.  I'd like to ask him if he is a "Crazy Guy" who has "Happy Feet."

Just got a call from good 'ole Steve! He got a new number, too! 909-271-4409

I tried calling back but the line didn't work - weird!