By Patrick Terpstra, Cox Washington
They threaten to revoke your driver's license, shut down your business, arrest you or deport your family.
Con artists impersonating the IRS are blowing up phones across the country this tax filing season, sapping millions of dollars from victims.
It has become the largest scheme of its kind in the history of the agency, according to Timothy Camus, deputy inspector general at the Treasury Department.
Even he got one of the calls, he told senators on the finance committee examining tax day schemes Thursday.
The phony calls are convincing.
The person claims to be from the IRS, offering a “badge number” and sometimes knowing victims' last four digits of their Social Security numbers.
The fake agent says the victim owes taxes and could be held criminally liable unless payment is made immediately.
Adding to the air of legitimacy is the area code sometimes displayed on caller ID: 202, the area code for Washington, D.C.
Increasingly, the schemers are using automated robo-calls to sound more legitimate.
“I can tell you it is a matter of high priority for law enforcement,” Camus was expected to tell senators, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. His office is getting 9,000 complaints or more about the scheme every week.
“As I told the individual who called me on my home phone, ‘your day will come.'”
