Senate Aging Committee to Examine Huge IRS Impersonation Scam and What the Government is Doing to Stop It

WASHINGTON, DC—Through what the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has called the “largest, most pervasive impersonation scam in the history of the IRS,” thousands of Americans have been defrauded of millions of dollars through a telephone scam in which criminals claim to be IRS officials and threaten victims with legal action, or arrest, if immediate payment is not made.  TIGTA estimates that 10,000 IRS impersonation scam calls are placed every week, yet, it is unclear whether the government is making it a priority to put a stop to this scam and to find and prosecute those who are involved with it. 

            “Catch Me If You Can: The IRS Impersonation Scam and the Government’s Response” is the title of an upcoming hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, led by Chairman Susan Collins and Ranking Member Claire McCaskill.  The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, April 15, 2015, at 1:30 PM in Dirksen 562.

            Witnesses include Dr. Al Cadenhead, Senior Pastor at Providence Baptist Church in Charlotte North Carolina, who lost several thousand dollars to this phone scam;  and Jason Moore, Auburn Police Department Detective who helped a Maine victim who had been targeted in this scam.

            Julie Brill, Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission is also scheduled to testify.  In addition, Alysa Erichs, the Special Agent in Charge at the Miami US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office is scheduled discuss her agency’s effort to prosecute one of the fraudsters associated with this scam—one of the few in the nation.