Take the employee badge # and call the hotline, make sure you inform the employee that you will need to call CSR to verify so that a note is input into the system. BTW this is a legit #

Got a call and a voicemail from Margaret from the IRS. Did not leave badge number in voicemail and just said to call her back. It's NOT a scam, but if you want to verify that it's not, I've posted the steps below. I returned her call but was not going to give her any sensitive information until she gave me her badge number. I simply told her my name, and she pulled up my file and had a quick question about a form that I attached to my tax return. It was a legitimate question and she corrected the form and that was the end of the conversation.

If you receive a phone call from an individual claiming to be from the IRS but you suspect they are not an IRS employee, ask for a badge number and return phone number.

Then contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to determine if the IRS has a legitimate need to contact you. Report any bogus correspondence.

The IRS does not d obusiness via e-mail or fax, and rarely will teh ycall you unless you alread have establishes phone contact on a situation they mailed you about.  We just received one of these faxes.  It's total scam and if anyone here says otherwise they are probably in on it.

My only action will be to send this to our local office so they can try to catch the bas_tards.

get several from this dang number..not cool.

17xxxxx number was a valid id number.  012xxxx is a valid IRS id number as well.  Treasury Dept has been rolled out a new employee ID system a few years ago, that employees ID number changed.

I got a call from a person who claimed that he worked for IRS and wanted to verify some wage/withholding information. I told him to fax me the paperwork when he asked me to verify our EIN. He said his name was Gary Crocker and his IRS badge number was 09104393. I received a fax three days later. The logo is not a typical IRS logo. The address is 333 Scott Street Stop 6445G Covington KY 41011-0000000. I was asked to contact Lori Steinbuch at 859-669-3715 and a fax number of 859-669-7990. Lori Steinbuch's badge number is 0184182 provided in the fax.

I am not sure how to go from here. I do not think IRS ever calls anyone and it should be by mail. I have frowarded the fax to my CPA.

IRS called asking for employee W2 information. We said no info on phone send fax. Received fax requesting same information and to send info to Fax # 859-6697990 & 859-6693715. Address on fax 333 Scott St Stop 6445G Covington KY. Used BING search and "Cinfed Credit Union" Cincinnati Ohio poped up. On one of the offices is "IRS Gateway Center", Limited to IRS Campus Personnel phone # 513-333-3856 called that number and it belongs to "Cinfed Credit Union".

Give me a break!  All the people saying it's legit, are the scammers themselves!  If a phone number doesn't trace back to the IRS, or if the fax number doesn't trace back to the IRS.. then guess what?  Yeah.. scammers.  The IRS only communicates via mail for first contact, period.  How else can they verify that you got the letter...duh. I mean, the least they can do is tell you your EIN... but they don't have it!!  And, despite what that moron says, badge numbers are given ONCE, period.  Unless a piece of paper has the official OMB (Office of Management and Budget) number on it, it's not official!!  This is the law, people.   I don't care what anyone on the phone says, or what any piece of paper says, unless it comes to me via MAIL, and it has a legitimate OMB number on it.  And guess what?  It NEVER will - because then these scammers would be committing MAIL FRAUD. Heck, it's bad enough that they are passing themselves off as agents of the IRS.  The guy that called me said 'we don't use mail'... LOL...Shoulder holsters?, LOL.. Yeah, the last time I spoke with an IRS agent, they had a gun.... yeah right!  LOL.

Because that is exactly why the IRS is questioning whether or not these people worked for us.  Apparenlty these people claim they did when in fact they didn't, probably an attempt to get tax money back which was never paid.


More importantly, I just got an email back from the IRS phishing department, it says,

"This is a legitimate request from the IRS.  Please contact Ms. Steinbuch at the number provided.  
Regards,
phishing@irs.gov
Online Fraud Detection and Prevention (OFDP) Internal Revenue Service United States Department of the Treasury"

IF THE PEOPLE ON THE FAX NEVER WORKED FOR YOU  THEN WHY IN GOD'S NAME WOULD YOU BELEIVE IT TO BE LEGITIMATE?

Whom ever you are referring to is probably a SHILL turning in bogus posts on this thread

Think about this..... Why is this guy usingdifferent badge numbers for different calls 1 call he says its 0129970 and another call is 170552  What's up with that?

What I ultimately decided to do was reply via mail to what I know is a legitimate IRS address at
Internal Revenue Service
P.O. Box 12192
Covington, KY 41012-0192

that should cover all my bases

Received fax and letter requesting taxable wages paid and federal income tax withheld for two individuals.  Requested to fax the form to 859-669-7990.  Contact Lori Steinbuch, Badge 01-84182, phone 859-669-3715.

Called 1-800-829-1040 to verify.  First person couldn't help and transferred me where I sat on hold for 30 minutes.  Second person said the IRS usually doesn't fax things.  She asked for the return fax number to see if she could verify that it is an IRS fax.  She couldn't verifiy it.  She then asked that I scan the fax and email it to the phishing department at phishing@irs.gov.  She told me not to reply to the fax.

I called the phone number for Lori on the fax and got her voicemail.  It sounded ligitimate.

My instinct is that this is legitimate.  Only because in my case, the two people listed on the fax never even worked here.  So by replying as such I don't see how they could be phishing for any info.  In fact they already provided the names and socials and are just asking for wages and tax info.

Not a scam, not this one any way. I called the IRS # 1-800-829-1040 and was able to confirm the fax I received was correct by giving them our business name and 1 of the former employees name. They were holding a few employee's tax returns until some wages were confirmed. The agent did advise to call when I get these forms because there have been scams using this method.

It's a scam and they're stealing peoples information.  Go to your local IRS Office (http://www.irs.gov/localcontacts/index.html) and show them the fax and ask if that is something that they would send or you can simply call the IRS (1-800-829-1040).  I've worked with the IRS for years and have never seen a document like this one that I received.  If it was from the government, it would have come via mail with the IRS information on it.  Not via a fax.  If it's "legit" then your local IRS office will be able to confirm, not somebody over a fax machine or a random stranger that called you.

I just got the same msg, is this legit?

they claim to be IRS and want income information on employees

I received an official looking fax from IRS Criminal Investigation asking me to call this number to verify wages on someone who was not my employee.

IRS employees frequently get new picture badges and when they do, sometimes the number changes on it.  This is usually the ID number they give you if you call their offices.  I can assure you, that 859-669-???? are true IRS Covington, KY phone numbers.  The 669 prefix is assigned only to IRS.

Badges are re-issued periodically, especially with the Homeland Security regulations.  If you receive any correspondence, a timely reply will land your reply/information with the right person.

Hi,

i got a phone call and a fax followed by that from Madonna Cress and Fran Rielag, please help us by sharing your experience. What happened after that. Since they came to you last year, were there any developments after that. Your help and response is highly appreciated.

thanks
james

I received a call from Mr. Buck "supposedly" from the IRS (badge# 0147446) yesterday requesting employment verification. I told Mr. Buck that I needed written request & gave him my fax number.  I received fax today from FRAN RIELAG (badge # 0129970)at IRS Cincinnati office, Criminal Investigation Unit.  A letter signed by Madonna Cress (Senior Supervisory Investigative Analyst) was included in fax and requested 2008 taxable wages & federal income tax withheld for a particular individual.  Question:  If Fran Rielag actually works at IRS, how can his badge number change from #1070552 (see kenobob - 12 Aug 2008 comment) to badge number 0129970?  Too suspect for me!!

I also called IRS at 1-800-477-0602.  They were able to verify that Fran Rielag and the badge number on the letter are actual IRS employees.

Called the IRS hotline regarding this number and apparently they are verifying W-2 information.  However the number listed, and the fax number of 859-669-7990 does not show up in their systems.  The agent gave me the number 859-669-4808 as the only valid number to fax back information to.

I received a faxed request to verify taxable wages on the W2 form for an individual.  Googled and found the telephone number for the Cincinnati Campus Internal Revenue Service 1-800-477-0602.  Happy to report that Fran Rielag works for the IRS at the Cincinnati campus.

Got the same phone call then fax request from Fran Rielag, badge number 0129970 doing a criminal investigation. Wanted 2008 W-2 information. I find this very strange since that information was sent to the IRS a month ago, on time. Why can't they just look it up. Very strange and suspect.

I'm a CPA and my client sent me a copy of a fax purportedly from IRS requesting a W-2 from an employee apparently under criminal investigation.
How can I verify that this is not a scam?

This is kenobob again. On November 21st, the IRS agents showed up at my door - badges, shoulder holsters, the works. This IS a legit number.

In a world of scam artists, I was trying to protect the private info of an employee.

There is a Criminal Investigation unit and this is a legit number.

bob

I received a call asking for employee verification...given the agents name (Frain Reilag) and badge #170552, followed up by a fax from the IRS Criminal Investigation that had the employees' name, soc #, and this phone number to call back with correct W-2 info, etc. Then, the following day, I received a call asking if I received the fax and mentioning that I had called the IRS hotline (which I did the evening before).

Told them that I only respond to certified letters or agents at my door and he cold take his investiagtion and stuff it up his $^**
August 11 and 12, 2008