IRS Warns of Telephone Scam

Let's do everyone a favor and link directly to Ars Technica rather than send everyone through an Apple News redirection link. (Yes, 800Notes will itself munge the link, but purely for safety reasons.)

All 24 suspects nabbed as part of phone scam ring have pled guilty, DOJ says
Miteshkumar Patel was the Illinois-based ringleader, oversaw $25M worth of fraud.

This follows on from the sweeping raids of Indian call centers in October 2016, where hundreds of fraud script performers were halted from bilking Americans. The usual premise was bogus tax debt, but the same operation had a little fake payday loan debt and fake grant swindling running on the side.

More detail is seen in the DoJ press release which Ars cribbed, now thirteen days old. Way to go with that fresh news, AT.
Last Defendant in the United States Pleads Guilty in Multimillion Dollar India-Based Call Center Scam Targeting U.S. Victims

There is mention of the use of "runners" for collection and liquidation of wire transfers from fraud victims. This gangland activity was discussed here nine months ago, related to the FTC case against a very similar operation.
Florida Money Runners for Indian Frauds Busted by FTC

They're apparently at it again with the area code and prefix 901-217-xxxx. I received a voice mail after not answering my cell, and I see other similar reports here with numbers under this area code and prefix. They need a grammar check for the text that generates the robot voice if they want to make it convincing in any way, the language was very convoluted and no government entity would use the phrase "local cops".

Please don't coach criminals on how to improve their stick!

My favorite was the message wherin they told me "please help IRS to help you," bu instead of saying the letters I-R-S, they pronounced it like it was just a word - "irs"!

Too funny ... The cultural divide between foreign frauds and their victims creates many "tells". Your quoted goof could be a matter of a different sensibility toward acronyms. Else, a script reader who struggles with English and tends to pronounce phonetically, like quite a few of the reedy-voiced wage slaves in Gujarat and Mumbai I've tangled with.

To "irrrs" is human; to swindle, a crime.

The IRS will NOT call you. You will receive a LETTER in the mail, NOT  a phone call. Please do not fall victim to these scams!

Asked me if I wanted some money refunded... When I say no, he could keep it, he just hanged up on me. So rude!!

I'm no idiot and I'm not naive either. Got a call from a number, supposedly in Athens, NY. Didn't know it, so ignored it 'cause I was busy at the time. A few seconds later, got a voicemail with a female voice, an obvious automated message, claiming something (the message kept cutting out) and threats about reporting me to local authorities if I didn't call back immediately. What a JOKE!  When I got home, I looked up the number here and see it's the same old IRS scam. Read the beginnings of this thread and thought, "Nope. Contacting the IRS won't do any good,' cause this phone number is likely spoofed, and probably disconnected by now." So, I just blocked it and deleted the message!

Did you also post in the thread for the number that called you? This is a phone number based website & more people will benefit from your information if you post it in the proper thread.

I find their avatar rather ironic.

You claim you're 'not an idiot' but most likely didn't post in the number thread, which is in itself idiotic. Apparently you're not doing like your avatar says and using your brain

"Daniel Smith" from 510-470-6798 (Hayward CA) left a very threatening voicemail about an IRS lawsuit that was being filed against.  I actually called back bc I think these are the absolute lowest form of phone scams.  Someone actually answered the phone and in the most thick Indian accent with lots of voices in the background, he began to threaten me.  I explained that his # shows up on the Internet as a scam # and he hung up.  Pure evil.

Proper place to post to help others:  https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-510-470-6798

they have new number started in sept vs 510 in aug 2018
https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-304-249-3413

And you felt the need to post this here why? You already posted in the appropriate thread.