Five people were arrested Tuesday in Miami, Florida, and charged in connection with an illegal tax scheme that allegedly defrauded more than 1,500 people of nearly $2 million across the country, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
Sixteen of the victims live in Maine and lost a total of $85,457, according to Sen. Susan Collins.
The defendants impersonated IRS agents and used the threat of arrest to obtain money from victims by falsely representing that the victims owed back taxes or other fees, J. Russell George, treasury inspector general for tax administration, said Tuesday in a press release.
A tip reported to the Senate Special Committee on Aging’s Fraud Hotline in October 2015 led to the arrest of two of the defendants, Collins, who is chairman of the committee, said Tuesday in a press release.
“The caller reported that her husband had recently been contacted by an individual claiming to be from the IRS and demanding immediate payment of alleged back taxes,” the press release said. “The victim was instructed by the scammer to drive to his local Walmart to wire nearly $2,000 via MoneyGram. On his way to the retailer, the distraught victim crashed his car.
“The victim was so convinced that the scammer was an authentic IRS agent, however, that he left the scene of the accident to wire the payment in order to avoid the scammer’s threats of possible legal action,” the release said.
The following people were charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud: Jennifer Valerino Nunez, Dennis Delgado Caballero, Arnoldo Perez Mirabal, Yaritza Espinosa Diaz and Roberto Fontanella Caballero.
In April 2015, Collins presided over a hearing that examined IRS impersonation scams and efforts by law enforcement to arrest those responsible.
Last year, the Aging Committee’s Fraud Hotline (855-303-9470) received more than 1,100 calls from seniors across the country, Collins said in her release. The most common complaint reported was the IRS impersonation scam. This data gathered was used to publish a comprehensive anti-fraud resource guide titled, “ Fighting Fraud: U.S. Senate Aging Committee Identifies Top 10 Scams Targeting Our Nation’s Seniors.”