Tax-filing season can be a time of confusion and frustration to working people and retirees who hope to maximize their refunds without breaking the bank in accountants’ fees.
But for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Northeast Philadelphia residents, shock and even fear have become part of the equation: shock that the IRS may be suing them and fear that they may have to pay a fortune in back taxes and penalties.
Fortunately, those threats are nothing but a telephone scam, authorities say. Unknown swindlers have been contacting local folks by phone attempting to con them out of their hard-earned savings. Hundreds of cases have been reported locally. There’s no telling how many other attempts have gone unreported.
“It usually picks up this time of year. (The callers) say you’re going to jail if you don’t pay,” said state Rep. Ed Neilson, one of at least two area legislators who launched “robocall” campaigns last week in an effort to defeat the scam artists at their own game.
Neilson and state Rep. Mike Driscoll each recorded a public service announcement to warn their constituents about the new IRS scam and to ask that they report any suspicious telephone calls to authorities. Typically, Neilson said, the scam artist will say they are an agent for the Internal Revenue Service before informing the victim that he or she is being sued by the IRS over unpaid taxes. The caller will instruct the victim in various ways to pay the outstanding balance — either the victim will be told to surrender sensitive information from his or her personal bank account or the victim will be told to transfer funds to the IRS from a pre-paid credit card.
If the would-be victim is not home, the caller will leave a message with a bogus name and number to call. The numbers appear to originate in a variety of states and some from overseas. Neilson notes that the scam artists may be using computer software to disguise the true locations of their calling centers.
“The thing we tell people is that the IRS doesn’t make these calls. They’ll send you a letter,” Neilson said.
Terry Devlin, a legislative aide to Driscoll, said that most targets won’t fall for the swindlers’ relatively transparent approach. But a few people seem to get caught up in the seemingly punitive consequences of not obeying the caller’s instructions.
“It’s a volume game. If they (get money from) one of twenty thousand, it’s worth it to them,” Devlin said.
Driscoll’s office began getting reports from constituents about a similar scam that seemed to be going around last October. The legislator recorded a public service message at that time and distributed it by telephone. Many constituents replied to Driscoll’s call by notifying his office that they had been targeted by the scammers.
“We did a robocall in October and got a good response, but it was nothing like this one,” Devlin said.
Earlier this month, constituents began calling again. So Driscoll did another robocall. About 100 constituents replied to Driscoll by telephone and another 15 who walked into his district offices. In one instance, a local man had gone to his bank and withdrawn $5,000 intending to wire the money to the “IRS.” His banking institution questioned the withdrawal, advised him to report the scam and prevented the loss.
Neilson had been getting sporadic reports of the IRS scam, too. After his robocall on Feb. 3, about 70 constituents contacted his office within four hours. Altogether, he’s heard from more than 100 people about the issue.
Northeast Philly isn’t alone in seeing a recent spike of IRS telephone scams. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office has been investigating similar reports across the state, according to spokeswoman Sadie Martin. Investigators in the AG’s Erie office are leading the probe, although a tally of complaints has yet to be calculated.
Echoing the local lawmakers, Martin reported that her office has documented similar scams in the past. After a spate of IRS scam calls last summer, the AG’s office issued a public warning. In addition to telephone-based scams, the crooks were using email in an attempt to secure cash and sensitive financial information from victims. At the time, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, a federal entity, was the lead investigative agency. It had received 10,000 complaints nationwide with losses to victims of more than $20 million.
Call the Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection at 1–800–441–2555 to report any scam. ••
