New Scam Call?

Justice Department Breaks Up Vast I.R.S. Phone Scam

With stiff sentences for 21 conspirators last week in the United States and a round of
indictments in India, the Justice Department says it has broken up what appeared to be
the nation’s first large-scale, multinational telephone fraud operation.

Over four years, more than 15,000 victims in the United States lost “hundreds of millions”
of dollars to the sophisticated scam, and more than 50,000 individuals had their personal
information misused, the department said Friday. The money was routed through call
centers in India back to the ringleaders in eight states.

The fraudulent calls came suddenly and frequently while the scam was active from 2012 to
2016, according to court documents. A person posing as an Internal Revenue Service or
immigration official was on the phone, threatening arrest, deportation or other penalties
if the victims did not immediately pay their debts with prepaid cards or wire transfers.

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In the announcement on Friday, the department said 21 people living in eight states —
Illinois, Arizona, Florida, California, Alabama, Indiana, New Jersey and Texas — were
sentenced last week in Houston to prison for up to 20 years for their role in the scheme.