Opinion : My encounter with an \'IRS\' scammer

The IRS has been calling me all day, telling me there is a warrant because I have not paid my taxes.

So I called the number, with a Washington, D.C., 202 area code (the first number they left on my answering came from a different area code).

A gentleman who identified himself as Shawn (although his thick accent indicated that he English is not his first language, and few other languages have male names pronounced like “Shawn)” told me that I owed the Internal…. Revenue Service a … total.. of… (he was clearly reading a cheat sheet) $2929.

He told me I had two options:

1. Fight it in the legal system -- which Shawn said would cost me $25,000 in legal fees.

2. Pay them today with my debit card, or an electronic bank transfer.

This, of course, is a scam. One one previous occasion, I have been contacted by the IRS concerning a tax error I made. The IRS does not call you first and tell you that they have a warrant. They send you a letter explaining why they think you erred and give you a chance to correct it. I looked at my tax form from that year and found that I had made two minor errors that made it look like I owed more than my 1040 indicated, and my errors led to an IRS error. I explained those errors and shortly thereafter, received a letter indicating that my corrected form had been accepted. I owed nothing more. The case was closed.

The people who try to steal from us this way are very clever. Most live in other countries – many of them are from Nigeria, although I do not know why that country is so popular for this purpose. They create accounts that are difficult for federal officials to find, and virtually impossible for victims to get their money back.

I played along with “Shawn,” answering his questions and hoping to maybe find some indication in his words who he worked for.

Finally, I invited him to meet me at my house, where law enforcement officials and I could work with him to settle this case.

He said yes. I hung up.

But when I called back to see when he was coming, I couldn’t get through to that number.

It seems ridiculous, all of those people who conduct these scams, with so many media stories and government officials telling us that the IRS and other agencies NEVER deal with people that way. But if Shawn is successful with just one case every week, out of the thousands of people he threatens, he can make a living for himself or his boss. And apparently, there are enough people who are conned and scared into making such a payment that guys like Shawn still have an opportunity to make a dishonest living.

I don’t know what else we can do to warn the public, other than to say: “Assume that everyone who calls or sends you a letter like that is a fraud, and stop thinking that everyone who you deal with is as honest as you are.” And never, ever – EVER – give your bank account to anyone.

Especially “Shawn.”