(202) 864-1620: IRS Scam Targets Mid-Michigan

The Internal Revenue Service is warning residents that receive a call from the phone number (202) 609-7070 not to answer it. Since late August, the IRS has been alerting taxpayers to a widespread, and growing, scam involving a caller that claims to be an IRS agent and says money is owed and that failure to pay immediately will result in an arrest warrant.

The scam goes so far to incorporate follow-up phone calls that appear to be from local law enforcement or the Secretary of State -- even supported by the caller ID display.

The caller frequently has a heavy foreign accent and many of the more than 90,000 complaints received last month indicate the initial calls were received from the Washington D.C.-area phone number, (202) 609-7070.

However, other numbers are associated with this scam. On Monday, the phone number (202) 864-1620 was used to target mobile phones with Owosso numbers. A foreign male identifying himself as "Melvin" was on the other line.

More than $5 million dollars has been duped out of taxpayers across the country by way of this scam and the IRS asks anyone that receives a call like this to report it immediately by calling 1-800-366-4484 or reporting it online.

Additionally, the IRS wants taxpayers to know the following:

The IRS:
Never asks for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the telephone
Never insists that taxpayers use a specific payment method to pay tax obligations
Never requests immediate payment over the telephone and will not take enforcement action immediately following a phone conversation. Taxpayers usually receive prior notification of IRS enforcement action involving IRS tax liens or levies.