A complex scam being run by a string of Internal Revenue Service impostors has become so widespread that even one of the nation's top U.S. tax fraud investigators has been roped in and targeted.
"I myself received one of these calls at my home on a Saturday," said Timothy Camus, the deputy Treasury inspector general for tax administration, during a Senate hearing, according to the New York Post.
The scam artists prey on Americans' fears of the IRS by contacting them by telephone and telling them agents are going to arrest them, or confiscate their properties, if they don't immediately pay their bills with prepaid debit cards. So far, the scam has cost innocent Americans $15.5 million this year alone.
Part of the reason for the scam artists' success is that they know bits and pieces of their targets' personal information, like the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.
Victims are "terrified," said Ellen Klem of the Oregon Justice Department, recalling a woman named Diane who gave up more than $15,000 after being threatened with a fine of $25,000 and 18 months in prison, the New York Post reported.
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"She pleaded; she begged," Klem recalled of Diane.
The Treasury inspector general has received more than 366,000 complaints so far this year.
"My gosh, I think a lot of people are going to be very surprised at how this is ballooning in our country," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, at the hearing. "We have to stop this."
The IRS never cold-calls to demand money and immediate payments. The agency's communications are conducted by letter.