Senate Hearing on IRS Impersonation Scams

• •The IRS impersonation scam is identified as the largest, most pervasive impersonation scam in IRS history.
• •More than 434,000 Americans have been targeted by scammers impersonating IRS officials.
• •Approximately 10,000 IRS impersonation scam calls are placed each week.
• •Victims are threatened with arrest or deportation if they do not pay alleged back taxes immediately.
• •Scammers instruct victims to purchase prepaid debit cards and provide the PIN numbers to the fraudsters.
• •Scammers use Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to spoof caller ID, making calls appear to originate from the IRS or local law enforcement.
• •Many of the scam calls are believed to originate from boiler rooms in India.
• •Victims are often pressured to stay on the phone; if they hang up, a second scammer impersonating local law enforcement calls back to increase pressure.
• •Pastor Al Cadenhead reported being defrauded of $16,000 in seven-and-a-half hours.
• •Detective Jason Moore reported a case involving a constituent defrauded of $23,000.

This hearing highlights a major financial threat to seniors, where over 434,000 Americans have been targeted and millions of dollars have been stolen through fraudulent IRS impersonation calls.

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.