He called and his name was William Austin. A scam. The IRS website talks about such scams and what to do about it. Go to: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Warns-of-Pervasive-Telephone-Scam, or simply go to irs.gov and click on the link at the left called "IRS warns of telephone scams". This link tells you how to report such scams, such as 1) calling Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484, or 2) contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov.
The notion behind this scam is to target especially people with a foreign sounding name, threaten deportation, and then try to get them to pay the scammer with a debit card in a panic. In our case, they were looking for my friend Jia (Chinese name), and said the IRS had a lawsuit against her and if she is being represented. However, Jia is clean with the IRS, and has not received any notifications by mail, so the lawsuit allegation did not make sense.
He called and his name was William Austin. A scam. The IRS website talks about such scams and what to do about it. Go to: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Warns-of-Pervasive-Telephone-Scam, or simply go to irs.gov and click on the link at the left called "IRS warns of telephone scams". This link tells you how to report such scams, such as 1) calling Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484, or 2) contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov.
The notion behind this scam is to target especially people with a foreign sounding name, threaten deportation, and then try to get them to pay the scammer with a debit card in a panic. In our case, they were looking for my friend Jia (Chinese name), and said the IRS had a lawsuit against her and if she is being represented. However, Jia is clean with the IRS, and has not received any notifications by mail, so the lawsuit allegation did not make sense.
Caller type: Scammer
Caller: William Austin
Company: IRS
Number: 607-241-2857
Reply