Taxpayers Warned About IRS Telephone Impersonation Scam

LITTLE ROCK—Christopher R. Thyer, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas and Gary Smith, Deputy Special Agent in Charge, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) for the Mid-States Field Division are warning taxpayers about an aggressive impersonation telephone scam targeting taxpayers.

Since October 2013, American taxpayers have been subjected to unprecedented attempts to fraudulently obtain money by individuals impersonating Internal Revenue Service employees.  The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has received reports of over 1.6 million impersonation related calls with over 8,600 victims reporting losses of almost $47 million.  Deputy Special Agent in Charge Gary Smith, on behalf of TIGTA, stated, “Victimizing taxpayers by impersonating Internal Revenue Service employees is a serious crime.  TIGTA and our law enforcement partners will do everything within our power to ensure that those involved in the impersonation of IRS employees are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

“My office takes these crimes very seriously,” said U.S. Attorney Thyer.  “Those involved in the impersonation of IRS officials will be held accountable, and my office will aggressively pursue and prosecute those individuals committing these crimes against innocent taxpayers when we find them.  Please notify TIGTA at 1-800-366-4484 immediately if you feel that you have received one of these calls.  You can also file a complaint online on TIGTA’s website, www.tigta.gov.  Lastly, please remember that you should never provide your personal information to callers if you are not sure of their identity, and never provide your personal information in response to emails from unsolicited email sources.”