Since I appear to have been targeted, I am taking this opportunity to remind everyone here to beware of scammers pretending to be with Internal Revenue Service and threatening to take action if you do not pay immediately. Down below, I will share my story and ways to spot scammers...
Friday I received a phone call which Caller ID indicated was from Baton Rouge, LA. That was, in fact, the name displayed. Since I don't know Bobby Jindal or anyone attending LSU, I let it ring, and the caller left this voice mail message:
Hello. We have been trying to reach you. This call is to inform you that IRS is filing lawsuit against you. To get more information about this case file please call us 206-XXX-XXXX, I repeat 206-XXX-XXXX. Thank you.
Now, I don't claim to be some sort of mastermind at uncovering scams, but this one was not particularly well done. The first thing I noticed was that even though the IRS often does things through field offices, this didn't make sense. The call supposedly came from Baton Rouge, LA, but then instructed me to call a number in Seattle. It then occurred to me that at no point in the message did it give my name, or anybody else's.
Also, the grammar is odd and when I listened to the message again, the voice sound as though it was computer generated. (It was a woman's voice, so no, I don't think I was being punked by Stephen Hawking.)
In addition, I have not received any mail or other phone calls from the IRS. And when I went to the IRS website to investigate what scams were being perpetrated, it mentioned that the IRS initiates contact in these matters via postal mail.
Of course, it's virtually impossible to get through to the IRS, but I feel pretty safe ignoring this call. And since I didn't actually talk to anyone, they weren't able to demand money or threaten to imprison me.
I suspect the Baton Rouge number was spoofed, but if the scammers actually intended to demand money from me, the Seattle number has to be an actual number used by the people involved, which is why I made a point of reporting this incident. If you or someone you know has been approached by someone impersonating an IRS employee, you can report it at www.treasury.gov/tigta or www.tigta.gov.
I also found a very good page showing the difference between bad guys and the real IRS. I noticed that the first user comment on that page lists the exact same scam, also using a number in Seattle (although different from the one I was given).
If you do end up talking to someone on the phone, make sure they are legitimate before you give them any person information.