Payback is a you-know-what!

Earlier this year I chronicled my adventures with those overseas scammers posing as IRS Agents who claimed I was in danger of arrest for failure to repay back taxes.

As someone who covered the accounting profession for 12 years I was more than familiar with standard IRS collection procedures something our friends in India were obviously not aware of.

Well I’m happy to report, actually, “giddy” is more like it, that the Justice Department has charged some 61 individuals and entities that victimized thousands of people with false IRS claims resulting in millions of dollars in losses. As of now, some 20 have been arrested in the U.S. and another 30 or so and five call centers in India have been charged.

Last month India authorities raided nine call centers and arrested 70 people who were involved with the impersonation scam.

The fraudulent campaign was allegedly via a network of call centers in Ahmedabad using information obtained from a variety of sources. The center “operators” would then call their victims while impersonating officials from the IRS and threaten victims with arrest, imprisonment, fines or even deportation if they didn’t pay their penalties to the government.

Once the victims agreed to pay, the call centers employed a byzantine network of associates to launder the proceeds via the purchase of pre-paid credit cards or wire transfers.

The scheme also used “hawalas,” an underground banking system in which money can be made available internationally without actually moving it or leaving a record of a transaction.

Apparently the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has been tracking and investigating this scam for the past three years. Incredibly, more than 1.8 million people have told the agency they have received such calls, including yours truly a total of seven times. Nearly 10,000 victims reported paying the scammers a total of over $50 million.

According to reports the victims ranged from an 85-year old California woman who was extorted to the tune of $12,500 and an incredible $136,000 from another victim who was called for 20 consecutive days.

And you thought car salesmen were persistent.

I don’t know what the potential sentencing guidelines are for such a heinous crime, but if I were the prosecutor I would recommend actual prison time – not the country club kind- and pair each with the most hardened lifer currently in residence as their roommate. By the end of the first week they would be answering to the name of “Nancy.”

Hopefully for the victims’ sakes it will be more uncomfortable than any call from the IRS.