The Latest IRS Scam--The Scammers are Getting a Little Smarter

I had a good friend send me the attached letter (here) that one of his clients received from the “IRS”. The letter is a hoax and another attempt by scammers to take money from people.  I called the number and played like I had received the letter.  I spoke to “Richard Solomon”, who told me that if I did not pay the sheriff would be coming to arrest me because I had “allegations filed against me”. 

Many of you will recall that these same scammers were randomly calling taxpayers and threatening to have them arrested unless they paid immediately.  I spent one afternoon talking with the scammers so I could understand how the scam worked. Not surprisingly, “Joe Dokes” was not happy at the end when I told him that I knew what he was doing.  The IRS response to the phone calls was to publicly announce that these calls were a scam and that the IRS never contacts taxpayers by telephone. Apparently, the scammers read this and have now starting using letters.

The letter looks very official and to people who do not regularly deal with the IRS it can be frightening.