Scammers pose as IRS agents

EVERETT — Kathleen Banks came home Friday morning from running errands to find a message on her answering machine.

“It was hard to understand, something about owing taxes and being in trouble,” the retired Everett resident said.

She dialed the number left by the message.

A man claiming to be an agent for the federal Internal Revenue Service lit into Banks, accusing her of lying on her federal taxes, defrauding the federal government out of $2,120 and threatening to send her to prison.

“He said I would lose my car, my house, my passport, my driver’s license,” she said. “It was so intimidating and frightening.”

The man wanted information about her bank account.

“I told him, ‘I didn’t do anything,’?” the 68-year-old said. “And he yelled, ‘Don’t you interrupt me.’ It was very scary.”

The man said police had a warrant for her arrest, and she would be arrested if she didn’t cooperate.

Banks’ experience is far from unique. She was yet another target of the IRS scam.

Such scams aren’t new, but the IRS scam seems to pick up during tax season, according to the actual IRS.

The agency says there has been a rash of attempts in recent months, with scam artists threatening “police arrest, deportation, license revocation and other things,” said David Tucker, an IRS spokesman in Seattle.

The IRS almost always contacts taxpayers through the mail, not over the phone.

One Everett accountant, Barbara Knorr, said that in the past few weeks, 30 to 40 of her clients told her they had been hit by IRS scammers.

The scam starts with an incoming call to an unsuspecting target. Oftentimes, caller IDs even show the call as coming from the IRS. Once a person answers, the scammer poses as an IRS agent who is calling because the person is in trouble for tax fraud or something similar.

The scammer will typically cite personal information, such as the last four digits of the person’s Social Security number or — as happened to Banks — the target’s home address.

They then threaten serious and scary consequences such as imminent arrest, prison time and asset seizure.

But there is hope, there is a way out, the scam artist tells the target. It can all be straightened out today by paying cash over the phone.

Usually, the scam artist tells the person to get prepaid gift cards and have them read the card number over the phone.

It works like cash, and once you give the number, it is all but impossible to trace and as good as gone, law enforcement officials say.

In Banks’ case, the scammer said he needed information about her bank accountant.

“I finally got mad, and said, ‘I haven’t done anything wrong, and if you’re going to arrest me, send someone over,’” and then she hung up, Banks said.

She kept her money, but the call left her shaken.

Most people recognize the scam for what it is. So scam artists cast a wide net, relying on finding that one person in a hundred or a thousand whom they can frighten into following their instructions.

Since October 2013, people have reported being contacted in a phone scam about 290,000 times, and nearly 3,000 victims have paid more than $14 million as a result, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which provides independent oversight of the IRS.

These criminals target groups they think are more likely to fall for the scam, such as elderly people, recently arrived immigrants and people who don’t speak English well, according to the IRS.

Shari Ireton, a spokeswoman for the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, said there is no reason for an unsolicited caller to ask for private information, and no one in “law enforcement or the courts will call you and ask for payment over the phone.”

Realistically, there is not much that law enforcement can do, said Charles Grass, president of the Washington Association of Accountants and owner of Grass CPA &Associates in Renton.

The scammers often are calling from overseas and make it difficult to trace them, he said.

One of his clients recently emptied her bank account in an IRS phone scam. She went to the bank to borrow more money to buy more prepaid cards, and a bank employee realized what was going on and stopped her, he said.

“I have power of attorney for her,” Grass said. “I would have received notices from the IRS.”

She filed a report with police, but he doesn’t expect she will get the money back.

“She’s out four grand,” he said.

Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.

What to do

If you get a call from someone claiming to be with the IRS asking for a payment, here’s what to do:

Report the call at a government website: www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml.

If you owe federal taxes, or think you might owe taxes, hang up and call the IRS at 800-829-1040. IRS workers can help you with your payment questions.

If you don’t owe taxes, call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 800-366-4484.

You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov. Add “IRS Telephone Scam” to the comments in your complaint.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

Trader Joe’s customers walk in and out of the store on Monday, Nov. 20, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Trader Joe’s opens this week at Everett Mall

It’s a short move from a longtime location, essentially across the street, where parking was often an adventure.

Ian Bramel-Allen enters a guilty plea to second-degree murder during a plea and sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Deep remorse’: Man gets 17 years for friend’s fatal stabbing in Edmonds

Ian Bramel-Allen, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder for killing Bret Northcutt last year at a WinCo.

Firefighters respond to a small RV and a motorhome fire on Tuesday afternoon in Marysville. (Provided by Snohomish County Fire Distrct 22)
1 injured after RV fire, explosion near Marysville

The cause of the fire in the 11600 block of 81st Avenue NE had not been determined, fire officials said.

Ashton Dedmon appears in court during his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett Navy sailor sentenced to 90 days for fatal hit and run

Ashton Dedmon crashed into Joshua Kollman and drove away. Dedmon, a petty officer on the USS Kidd, reported he had a panic attack.

A kindergarten student works on a computer at Emerson Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘¡Una erupción!’: Dual language programs expanding to 10 local schools

A new bill aims to support 10 new programs each year statewide. In Snohomish County, most follow a 90-10 model of Spanish and English.

Logo for news use featuring the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Woman drives off cliff, dies on Tulalip Reservation

The woman fell 70 to 80 feet after driving off Priest Point Drive NW on Sunday afternoon.

Everett
Boy, 4, survives fall from Everett fourth-story apartment window

The child was being treated at Seattle Children’s. The city has a limited supply of window stops for low-income residents.

People head out to the water at low tide during an unseasonably warm day on Saturday, March 16, 2024, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Everett shatters record high temperature by 11 degrees

On Saturday, it hit 73 degrees, breaking the previous record of 62 set in 2007.

Snohomish County Fire District #4 and Snohomish Regional Fire & Rescue respond to a motor vehicle collision for a car and pole. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, near Triangle Bait & Tackle in Snohomish. (Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office)
Police: Troopers tried to stop driver before deadly crash in Snohomish

The man, 31, was driving at “a high rate of speed” when he crashed into a traffic light pole and died, investigators said.

Alan Dean, who is accused of the 1993 strangulation murder of 15-year-old Bothell girl Melissa Lee, appears in court during opening statements of his trial on Monday, March 18, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
31 years later, trial opens in Bothell teen’s brutal killing

In April 1993, Melissa Lee’s body was found below Edgewater Creek Bridge. It would take 27 years to arrest Alan Dean in her death.

Logo for news use featuring the municipality of Snohomish in Snohomish County, Washington. 220118
Man dies after crashing into pole in Snohomish

Just before 1 a.m., the driver crashed into a traffic light pole at the intersection of 2nd Street and Maple Avenue.

Bodies of two men recovered after falling into Eagle Falls near Index

Two men fell into the falls and did not resurface Saturday, authorities said. After a recovery effort, two bodies were found.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.