Feds Announce Charges In IRS Phone Scam
(CBS) – Federal prosecutors on Thursday announced major crackdown today on one of the biggest scams that has cheated people out of millions of dollars.
2 investigator Pam Zekman has been tracking the so-called IRS phone scam since it began and reports that victims may finally be getting some justice.
The phone scammers claimed people owed back taxes and would be arrested unless they immediately made payments using debit or gift cards.
Tim Poulakis got a similar message and paid more than $20,000.
"They put the fear of god in me. I was crying, and I couldn't believe it," he said.
Eight of the alleged scammers charged today are from the Chicago area. Five appeared in court.
The feds say victims in the U.S. have lost a combined $300 million in this type of scam.
"If you do get phone calls , and I do expect that these people are resilient and will not give up, my advice to you is to just hang up," U.S. Treasury Inspector General Russell George said.
The indictment describes how five call centers in India coordinated with people on the ground here in the U.S. to launder the money.
The feds will try to recover the money, but authorities say there may be nothing left.
In all, 61 people in both the U.S. and India were charged. The government says they were also involved in grant scams and payday loan scams.