I received a call - recorded message from a man claiming that I am suspected of tax fraud. I laughed as I listened to the message knowing it was not true. Be Aware that this is a fraud, since I saw a report on TV saying the IRS does not operate like that. And to confirm that, my best friend works for the IRS the last 26 years and agrees that the IRS does not contact people that way. The caller says, "the moment you read this message..." that is an indicator the call isn't legitimate.

I am a Manager of the Financial Intelligence Unit for a popular money transfer company.  What is helpful from an investigate perspective is not the name of the caller - but of the intended receiver.  That is, (and I realize many scam calls never get this far) - the name the caller tells you to send the money transfer to.  The caller can make up whatever name he / she wants, but the receiver of the funds will be an actual person (and very likely different from the caller).  The IRS scam works by creating both fear and a sense of urgency.  Once you are on the hook, they will advise you to use a transfer service (Western Union, MoneyGram etc) to transfer funds to a specific individual - or several individuals.  Often times if you send the money once - they will suddenly contact you again with a second scenario where more money is required.  As long as you keep paying, they will keep demanding more and more money.  If we (money transfer company) know the name of the recipient of the funds - we can block the person(s) from transacting.  It's not much, but it does disrupt the operation if we can ID and block the receivers of the fraud scheme.