In 'largest scam of its kind,' 20,000 taxpayers bilked of $1 million

[steve2470]

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-irs-scam-20140321,0,5100321.story#axzz2wckbUBaB

An Internal Revenue Service watchdog is warning taxpayers of a scam that so far has swindled 20,000 people out of a combined $1 million, officials said Thursday.

The Treasury inspector general for Taxpayer Administration said sophisticated scammers are cold-calling people claiming to be from the IRS and are armed with enough information, such as the last four digits of a person's Social Security number, to convince victims to wire them money.

"This is the largest scam of its kind that we have ever seen," said J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for Tax Administration.

The scammers have targeted thousands of people in nearly every state, the agency said.