323-407-9491

Message left from a Tom Cooper who had a thick non-english accent.  Claimed to be from Department of Legal Affairs of US Treasury.  Claimed legal action is being taken against me.  Told me I should retain a lawyer before I call back - but then urged I call back myself as soon as possible.  Ended with "God Bless."

Suspecting this not right, especially with the threat of legal action, looked online and sure enough, others reported this as a scam.

Folks that called back said they were told there was an issue with their 2009 taxes.  A news report claims they collected over $1M so far.

I have had actual issues with back taxes.  Calc errors, omissions, etc.  My experience is what the US Treasury does is sends you in the mail a letter describing the issue, and timeline to fix it.  They also provide sheets showing the errors and corrections and ask you to either provide data explaining or to reply back that you accept their calcs and pay the differences.  Sometimes it is a check back for overpaying, again with sheets showing where the errors were made.  Regardless, this type of thing is managed through the mail, and with the calc errors detailed.  They even assign an contact officer if there are questions from me about my case.  

As much as we tend not to like to pay taxes or the Tax Man, there is a real process and real people behind it and they are there to help you through it.  Nowhere in an actual experience are you told legal action is being taken, no threats made.  Its a given that you need to have your taxes right, no need to mention or threaten legal action.

Given how few folks have actual land-lines anymore, why would anyone use that route to contact, especially for official business?   If something is really serious, they will knock on your door.  Less urgent offical matters use mail.  Anything else is suspicious.

An apparent scam call from "Tom Cooper" from the Department of the Treasury.  Heavily accented English, with a lot of background noise/talking, so the call appears to originate from some foreign call center.  Caller ID shows "California," and "Mr. Cooper" called three times and left two messages (first one wasn't done well enough apparently) going on about moving forward with legal proceedings or something along those lines.  Very difficult to understand him, but I seriously doubt real government agencies would be calling you up out of the blue leaving oddball messages on your phone or answering machine.

Received a cal from the above number.  Caller ID 'd himself as Tom Cooper , Department of Legal Affars of the US Tresury.  Stated some form of legal action was going to be taken, but would not tell me why.  Figured it was a scam, but still wanted to report it.

Rec'd a voice mail message from "Chris Wilcox" -heavy accent - Calling from "Dept. of Legal Affairs" - said that I shouldreturn the call, with my attorney, as if I don't take care of this action that has been started against me that "it will be a big mess for you".  Also ended with have a Blessed Day.  Needless to say, I don't intend to call them back.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Tax-Scams-Consumer-Alerts
https://800notes.com/forum/ta-8c2f64bf2b91fa5/irs-warns-of-telephone-scam

Report the Calls to the real IRS here:
•report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 800-366-4484.
•You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov. Add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments in your complaint.

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Do consider maybe getting a call blocking device or phone.. You can google them and many are around $60.00 or so.

Got the same threatening call from tom cooper. Spoke to guy with thick accent in some noisy room. Said legal action is being taken against me and I'll be arrested.

My husband just got the same message left on our voicemail as stated above.  Sounded so suspicious with his Indian accent and his name is Tom Cooper.  It was the same number as above.  

09/11/2014

I received three urgent messages from Paul Cooper (could be Tom Cooper, he was difficult to understand) at 323-407-9491.  The caller had a thick accent with loud background noise.  He said he was from the Department of Legal affairs and I should retain an attorney before returning the call to address an urgent legal issue.  

Also a call from tom cooper from dept of legal affairs, heavy accent, lots of background noise, says regarding legal matter but seems fishy and seems to be the case!

Same as the above comments but his name was Chris Wilcox.

Same message as above but the # was 323-739-1743

I received a call from this number 323-407-9491.  He claimed he was with the US Treasury department and that legal action was going to be taken against us.  His name was Chistopher Wilcox.  What scum to try and extort money from hard working people.  We need to stop people like this!!!!!

Just got a recorded message from Chris Wilcox from Dept of Legal Affairs of the US Treasury!  Same as others listed above.

Received a message very similar message from above from Tom Cooper (323)407-9491

Just received same message from 323 407 9491...Chris Wilcox...with lots of phoning noises in the background. SCAM...not returning call but will REPORT it as quickly as possible.  Get these folks outta here!!!!

I so want them to call again.  I love jacking these kind of people around.
I did report them to www.tigta.gov.

Got the same call today.  Thick Indian accent.  He knew my name.  I asked for information such as a case #.  Said he was not authorized to give that information.  I said I couldn't talk but asked for the number to call back and he told me:  323 407 9491.  Looked up "scam from 323 area code" and got this link.  Thanks for posting this.  Thought it was a scam, but raised my blood pressure up a bit none-the-less.

I got same as above.  Tom Cooper, and Dwayne McGuire, both with accents that did not fit those names (!).  From 323-407-9491.  Claimed to be from "Legal Affairs" at US Treasury, and that I would be arrested for not having paid 2009 taxes.
As above, report this to the REAL US Treasury--Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 800-366-4484, or www.tigta.gov, or http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml

Same call same message only from Chris Wilcox.

I just received the same message.  I assumed it was a scam because I received a call from a similar person last month saying I qualified for a government grant.  I did try to call the number back and it doesn't exsist.