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

Received 3 calls in one morning from a man with heavy Indian accent named Steve Jackson from Dept of Legal Affairs. I was told to call back  "in regards to the enforcement actions that have been started in my name." Definitely a scam!

Now you all need to start calling them harass them

Caller claims to be with U.S. Treasury. Strong accent. Told me there was a claim against me regarding my taxes. Asked for my address so he could send authorities to take me into custody.  I told him he was a scammer and he hung up. He has been calling for a week, several times a day.

I received a call from 559-372-6775 by a woman with a strong Indian accent claiming to be with the U.S. Treasury. She referred me to a Daniel Rich, giving me the same number. I called back and spoke with a man claiming to be Daniel Rich who also had a strong Indian accent. They claimed I had underpaid my 2009 federal income tax and owed an additional $2,100. They said a sheriff would arrive in 15 minutes to arrest me, that I would spend the weekend in jail. We called the sheriff's office and they suggested it was a scam.

Received four phone calls from this number.  They would not give up.  Called repeatedly.

Last night we received two calls from a woman with a very strong Indian accent stating that she was with the US Treasury and that this was their final call to us. If she did not receive a call back within one hour that a warrant would be issued then finished her call with "Have a blessed day!". So we decided to call the number that she left for us. We reached a voice mailbox of a person by the name of David Richie at U.S. Treasury. After that we decided to look on the internet to see if this was a fraudulent call and thanks to all the other posts found that is was. We also checked the I.R.S. website and found scam identified on their website so we have filed a complaint with the FTC. I sure hope that these people get caught and placed behind bars.