Florida investigators warn of IRS scam

MIAMI, Fla. – Scammers are hoping that in this season of taxes, they can trick you into thinking they are calling from the IRS.  It starts with a a phone call.

"This is Officer Adam Mead calling you from the Internal Revenue Service, Tax Reporting Department. This call is to inform you that we have a legal lawsuit filed against your name. It's regarding some tax fraud and we are just about to issue an arrest warrant," was the voicemail left by the caller.

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The message is designed to intimidate and frighten you.  It's a message that con-artists have left on the answering machine of hundreds of victims.

"When a professional scammer calls you and tells you that you owe money for taxes or for products that you ordered and you never paid for and they use fear as a tactic to get you to pay for something that you don't really owe," said U.S. Postal Inspector Blanca ALvarez in Miami, Florida.

If victims want to avoid an arrest warrant, they're instructed to call back and set up a payment plan. Postal inspectors say these scam artists can be very aggressive and technology is helping them.

"They can find your house on Google Earth or on any other map program online, often times they can zoom in to see if you have a pool in your background or if there's a car parked in your driveway and they can use that information against you to make you believe that they are in the neighborhood or they are local," warned Alvarez.

An important red flag to spot the scam is in the phone call itself.

"The police will never call you to tell you there are going to arrest you. If there is an arrest warrant with your name on it, they'll just come and arrest you, they won't call you to tell you that they are coming," Alvarez explained.

Also, never give out any information over the phone when you get a call like this one.

"Don't feel pressured into making a decision immediately. Research the company, take the person's name and telephone number down and the company name, and do research and then contact the company directly," warned Alvarez.

Another important thing to know is just because the caller leaves a number with a 202 area code, which is the area code for Washington, D.C.,  does not mean they're calling from Washington. These days, con-artists can simply buy phone numbers in any part of the world.