Four years, 15,000 victims, hundreds of millions of dollars stolen, and over 50,000 individuals’ personal information abused – the U.S. Justice Department announced the arrests and closure of the first multinational, large-scale IRS phone scam the nation has seen.
This complex scheme involving Indian call-centers posing as Immigration or Internal Revenue Service officials, contacted vulnerable Americans – such as immigrants and seniors – and threatened jail time, deportation, or other forms of retribution if the victim didn’t pay off their “debts” immediately.
Once the money was received – either via wire transfer or prepaid card – “runners” would then launder the funds through bank accounts under falsified names and documents, each man taking a small percentage as payment for his services, before the money would finally reach the scam’s ringleaders situated across eight states.
“This type of fraud is sickening,” Ryan Patrick, the U.S. attorney for the United States District Court for the Southern District in Houston, Texas, said after sentencing 21 perpetrators up to 20 years in prison, while yet another 32 Indian contractors were indicted overseas for their role in the scam and are awaiting arraignment.
In San Diego, an 85-year-old woman paid $12,300 to the fraudsters after they impersonated an IRS official and threatened arrest over a mock tax violation. Another man in Chicago similarly sent $5,070 to what he thought were immigration and state police officers after being blackmailed with deportation.
Even a woman in New Hampshire claimed that her phone’s caller ID showed “U.S. Government” when she received a call from the scammers – later going on to also fund $3,980 to whom she thought was the IRS in an effort to avoid arrest – while yet another man in Houston sent over $195 under what he thought was the fee for a promised $1000 loan.
The investigation that involved several years of collaboration between Indian officials, the Justice Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Treasury Department, and Homeland Security, culminated with the complete shut-down of the elaborate scam that ran from 2012-2016, while those convicted must now pay a restitution of $8.9 million to victims, with total judgments of more than $72.9 million.
And for those worried about falling for a similar scheme? While the IRS acknowledges that “threats like these are common tactics scam artists use to trick victims into buying into their schemes,” you can rest easy knowing that the actual tax agency does things differently.
If you owe tax money or any other legitimate debt, initial contact by the IRS will almost always be through a mail notice, and never via phone call. Additionally, the IRS will not at any time threaten the involvement of law enforcement or immigration authorities, nor promise arrest and the revoking of licenses or immigration status.
(This post was contains information from this New York Times article.)
