855-326-5717

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today warned consumers about a sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, throughout the country.

Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be paid promptly through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. If the victim refuses to cooperate, they are then threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver’s license. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting.

“This scam has hit taxpayers in nearly every state in the country.  We want to educate taxpayers so they can help protect themselves.  Rest assured, we do not and will not ask for credit card numbers over the phone, nor request a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer,” says IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel. “If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and threatens police arrest, deportation or license revocation if you don’t pay immediately, that is a sign that it really isn’t the IRS calling.” Werfel noted that the first IRS contact with taxpayers on a tax issue is likely to occur via mail
Other characteristics of this scam include:
Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim’s Social Security Number.
Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it’s the IRS calling.
Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.
Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.
After threatening victims with jail time or driver’s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.
If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:
If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue – if there really is such an issue.
If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, you’ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484.
If you’ve been targeted by this scam, you should also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov.  Please add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments of your complaint.
Taxpayers should be aware that there are other unrelated scams (such as a lottery sweepstakes) and solicitations (such as debt relief) that fraudulently claim to be from the IRS.
The IRS encourages taxpayers to be vigilant against phone and email scams that use the IRS as a lure. The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information.  This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels. The IRS also does not ask for PINs, passwords or similar confidential access information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts. Recipients should not open any attachments or click on any links contained in the message. Instead, forward the e-mail to phishing@irs.gov.

More information on how to report phishing scams involving the IRS is available on the genuine IRS website, IRS.gov.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Warns-of-Pervasive-Telephone-Scam

This group called me about someone who lives in Louisiana, Louis Fullington, and said I was listed on his debt as first point of contact. I've never lived or been to Louisiana nor do I know this person.

This company is full of bull crap.

Forgot to add that this sleezy caller used a Las Vegas Nevada area cell phone number to call me first and left a voicemail. The number is 702-576-0661

Check this out, this company had to pay over $2.8 million to the FTC for aggressive collection techniques that violated federal law:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/agressive-debt ... ory?id=13166019

1 (844) 795-7494 they are calling from a new number I don't even answer the calls be cautious and don't give them any information

I just got a call from jasmine too.. so odd with all these post. I just ignore the calls now and hope they just stop

Called my work for a payroll garnishment with out judgment

Not possible.  No employer is going to payout money without a court judgment.

Received a voicemail from a Melissa Stanford, Director of Claims Processing Dept.  Something about an account and the phone call "serving" me as a "person of interest".   Gave me a account number to refer to and said it was urgent that I resolve this matter.  Number they called from: 253-275-3684 (Auburn, WA - landline)  Number they said to call back on: 1-844-795-7494 (no information listed)

Sounds like a total scam to me  The phrase  "serving"  and "person o f interest" are terms they use to frighting you  and make you think there's something vaguely criminal going on that you had something to do with.  Ignore it, they are just trying to scare you into giving money or information.    They are spoofing area code 253 (a popular area code to spoof) and giving you a generic 844 call-back number which will soon be disconnected.    

I wouldn't answer them since they seem scammy.

Melissa stafford, and John Hardy from 844 795 7494 has called my job, my friends, my manager and my ex-husband. They are threatening to issue a warrant for my arrest. my manager has asked John hardy to stop calling my place of employment and he hangs up and keeps calling her line over 5x per day. he has called my friend bridgette and demanded she finds a pen to write down a message I will be arrested. He has called my daughter who lives in NY and told her i am going to be arrested..

I just got a call from western portfolio management that I'm a person of interest. I almost had a heart attack. What did I do? They were trying to verify if I lived here and didn't state that I owed them anything but I never responded to them. I have never received anything from them! Ever. Collection calls turn out to be official sounding from junk debt buyers trying to make u pay any old debts. Make them prove it!! If u wind up in court they will knock off lots of debt amount. If u owe it. They will make payment arraignments . If they are legit. Good luck all!!

Debt collectors can not arrest you. They should be reported. You can also ask them to stop calling you in writing. Ask them to send you proof that the debt is your. Proof is ORIGINAL  documents you signed. Most often these junk debt buyers have no proof and might never contact u again.

I also got a phone call from the same person. Hardy. He said i had $2000 unpaid credit from 2007. He had my address and even social number. When i asked where they were located he said they were in California. I got their address and told him i will call back with CC number.. A mean while i google that address and found out it was a plumber company. I even call that plumber company and told them these scammers using their address.
Call that Hardy guy back and told him that i dont owe [***] and the address he gave me was the plumber company. He got angry and told me they were well established company.. Bs!!
Do not give any information to these scammers!!

I just received a message from Stafford too. Case # 1199904.....from phone # 844-795-7494...COME GIT ME HEAUX!!

Scam claiming they are the IRS and I owe them money

I got a call from +1 (855) 326-3911 today. I answered and a pre-recorded message said that I needed to call back and reference a case #. It was because I was a person of interest in an internal investigation. Never said my name, and the message never identified himself or company. Pure scam. I never called back