Federal Agency Impostors

Hello, I'm new here, but after reading some older threads, I really feel like this needs to be brought up again. I was recently contacted by an impostor claiming to be Lieutenant David Wallace from the DEA. First contact was Tuesday August 20th (2013), and then again today...TWICE. The first time I listened to my voicemail, it was a very believable message, so I returned that call as asked. Afterwards, I did a reverse phone look-up for phone number 1-202-239-8343. 411.com said it was a Ymax Communications Corp. Washington, D.C. landline. Then I used Google Search to search for other people who have had calls originating from Ymax. What I found was this website, and people stating scams, impersonators, threats from impersonators, ect. That is why I joined, to hopefully help someone else. I ended up called Homeland Security, and was told to call my local D.E.A field office directly, the real one. I live in Utah, and Headquarters was afterhours, so I chose to call the L.A. Field office. I was directed to a genuine D.E.A Special Agent, whom helped my to understand this scam, and that it has become an issue with more attempts to threaten and collect money from naive unsuspecting people. She gave me this hotline number to report the incident: 1-877-792-2873.

The thing that scared me the most, was that this person had all my personal information, my doctors names, my medication lists, my local pharmacy where I fill my prescriptions (my blood pressure and diabetic meds). Now it becomes a matter of possible identity theft. I'm sorry this is long, but I genuinely feel the need to make this as detailed as possible. Today, the fraudulent man made threats on my life, my family. I'm am contacting my local state F.B.I office and going to see what else I can do to help get these guys. I don't take threats upon my life lightly. I was able to record todays phone calls. The Headquarters DEA reporting has an automated message, and only allows you to record up to 6 minutes of report. I had to shorten it up, but it also asks you to be as detailed as possible, and your info is optional.

My recordings I think might just be beneficial, and they called from the same number multiple times, you can hear background noise, and the mans accent is very characteristic of someone on the east coast, but not D.C, more like New Jersey or New York (I spent time there, my family is there).

Please, don't let this be just another call to you that gets dismissed. We need to get these [BLEEPS] and put them where they belong, anything you think you can do, do it.

Thanks for reading my post. I hope this helps someone else. Please Pay it forward.

-Danae

What really helps here is to post under phone numbers used by your callers, pretty much the main event on a site like this.
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-202-239-8343

I think we have a couple existing fake DEA thug threads in the fora here as well. Poke around some and welcome to the membership.

Also, do not worry that you may be targeted for violence, the scammer is hiding behind his telephone and computer. He would be too cowardly to attempt to follow up on his threats.

Here is the official DEA/ODC/DOJ announcement on this scam:
http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/pubs/pressreleases/extortion_scam.htm

...adding to DaFox's comments - there is a good chance the imposter is not even in the United States.  There have been threads mentioning Jamaica & the Dominican Republic.

Despite the accent, your caller was probably offshore, Dominican Republic, Jamaica or  someplace like that, and spoofed the telephone number.   The fact he has so much data about medications and doctors makes it sound like a hack (perhaps from inside) of the pharmacy's patient records.  You might want to talk to them about the calls as it may indicate they have a serious problem.

Also, it wouldn't hurt contacting your congressional reps and demand something be done about these offshore scams.  Unless the countries who host these criminals face some heat for it, nothing will be done to stop them.

Another possibility, a pharmacy whom had the original records was sold or went bankrupt, thus it's records were transferred to a secondary buyer who may have not been completely legit.
It has been reported here, although this sale of records was to a competitor of the defunct pharmacy:
http://www.pressherald.com/news/pharmacys-dru ... 2010-11-17.html

I just received a call yesterday claiming they were with the IRS and offering the name Officer so and so.  Heavy accent, less like NJ and more like from India or Middle Eastern country.    The number that called my house is 202-241-2979.  I did call back because IRS was mentioned and it caught my attention, but when I called back, I got a different name on an answering machine.  I didn't leave but my first name and said I was returning a call.  If they call again,  I will be ready to record as well.  I, too, looked up the number and found a land line with the name of YMAX Communication Corp.  I found a site as well claiming fraud with this company.

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/ymax-communications-corp-las-vegas-nevada-c120675.html

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

You are right in a sense. The number is actually part of a block assigned to users of YMAX Communications, which itself, is a wholly owned subsidiary of magicJack VocalTec, Ltd., the company that sells magicJacks to people.

But neither YMAX nor magicJack is trying to call you. One of their customers is, however. MagicJack has, in the past, cooperated with authorities when complaints were filed to appropriate agencies about abusive or scamming callers. They have, in fact, supplied records for their numbers, including registration information for their users, and they can cut off accounts or render devices useless.

Don't complain about them - they just supply tools, albeit tools that are extraordinarily useful for certain types of scams. Make your complaint to your state's AG if possible, as there is at least one case I've run across where that resulted in a very good outcome for the harassed party.

These government agency impostors appear to be getting  bolder and more numerous, an obvious consequence of these crooks operating from safe havens overseas and being immune to prosecution.   It's about time the US government takes the gloves off and starts inflicting some pain on those governments tacitly supporting this international crime wave.

I was called today from a land line in Washington DC, where they made me believe they were the IRS, told me there were discrepancy in my 2011 return and that I owed over 3000.00 and that my bank account had been seized and my property. And that the sheriff was on his way to my address to pick me up and take me to jail for up to 5 years, so I called the sheriff's office they told me that it sounded like a scam, for me to call the IRS, to ease my mind. Sure enough my account was fine! People like this need to be caught and put behind bars and given something to do than mess with other people's lives!

If you have the number, could you please look it up with the search bar to the right-it would do better there than on this thread

I got a call from  202-241-2216 saying he is officer Jeff Davis from Investigation Department. I tried to inquire but seemed like he was more trying for me to say Yes on the phone which I did.I am not sure what this will lead up to?

Later I checked the number and it is from  YMax Communications Corporation. If some has more information as to what I can do to protect my self and who to report to?

>>> Later I checked the number and it is from  YMax Communications Corporation. If some has more information as to what I can do to protect my self and who to report to? <<<

This is some coward hiding behind a magicJack device plugged in at some God-forsaken corner of the world where there is Internet service. He's no better than a common criminal using a magicJack device and your fear the same way a common thief uses a toy pistol hidden in the pocket of his overcoat to make a bulge that looks like a real gun.

You can verify that this is a magicJack number by searching for it at http://www.phonevalidator.com .

This scam has been extensively researched at
http://www.pindropsecurity.com/consumer-fraud ... irs-phone-scam/ and it was found that magicJack numbers are frequently used, and many of the scammers are operating out of India. There is even an audio recording of a call returned to one of these numbers and a written transcript of the recording contained in links from the Pindrop Security blog.

MagicJacks are readily obtainable outside of the United States for about $100 US and can come with up to a year of free calling to the U.S. and Canada. In India, see, for example,
http://magicjack.in .
So it doesn't take long to turn a profit, even if only 0.1% of the people they call are stupid enough to believe the scammers. And once you have one of these devices, you can get a regular-looking US telephone number from pretty much any area code you want assigned to the device.

In addition to the regular reporting channels, e.g., the Department of the Treasury, the FTC, and/or your local state attorney general's office, you might also report the abuse to YMAX Corp. This is a fully-owned subsidiary of the company that sells magicJacks. YMAX Corp. is in charge of assigning telephone numbers to magicJack devices. I have seen reports that they are pretty good at responding to complaints and may be able to permanently shut off a magicJack device, if necessary, so that it can never be used again.

The YMAX Corp. main web page is at:
http://www.ymaxcorp.com
and their site giving information on how to lodge a complaint is at:
http://www.ymaxcorp.com/contact.html

Note that the "contact" website gives a clickable link to a "live chat" where you can make your complaint.

I've mentioned this before. If you read Magic Jack's TOS they can suspend your service for what they call 'abuse'. The rough translation of that is 'too many calls'. There are some good stories on the internet of normal people who have had their service cut by YMax for doing just that. I think we all have a rough idea of how many scam calls a scammer makes in a day. I can't see it being hard for YMax to pick them out.