Fake IRS agents called 366,000 seeking money; 3,000 fell for scam since 2013, investigator says
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Multiple criminal groups may be responsible for telephone calls to 366,000 people by fake Internal Revenue Service agents who are trying to trick targets into providing funds to the scammers.
A total of 3,000 people have fallen for the scheme since 2013, and one victim lost $500,000, a deputy inspector general for the U.S. Treasury Department said at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Thursday. The scheme has cost taxpayers more than $15 million, reports the Associated Press.
“The criminals do not discriminate. They are calling people everywhere, of all income levels and backgrounds,” Timothy Camus told the committee, noting that he himself had received a call from a scammer on Saturday. “The number of complaints we have received about this scam make it the largest, most pervasive impersonation scam in the history of our agency.”
