Tulsans Targeted By IRS Phone Scam

Tulsans are a target of IRS phone scams so convincing that one woman almost paid out $6,000 to scammers. The calls even come from a Washington D.C. area code.

People who have received the IRS calls say they're sophisticated, even name-dropping chief investigation officers working the case.

"He knew my full name, my address. He knew more personal information about me than I wouldn't think any other people would know," said Glenpool resident Machele Wright.

Wright said the IRS impostors on the other end of the call almost conned her out of six grand.

"If I would've had that much money on hand, I would have given them that money because it was just so convincing," Wright said.

She said the scammers told her she filed her taxes incorrectly from 2010 to 2012 and said they already tried to serve her papers in March. Then came the threats if she didn't pay.

"Suspend my driver's license, cease my bank accounts, come take my home. I would go to federal prison is what he said," Wright said.

She said they demanded she send $6,000 to a pin number within 45 minutes or she'd be arrested.

"I said, 'I have to go to the bank. There's no way I can get a loan in 45 minutes from the bank.' And he said I have no options," Wright recalled.

She isn't the only Oklahoman getting the calls.

One message, difficult to understand, was left on a Tahlequah answering machine. It asks for a social security number.

The Tulsa Better Business Bureau released a warning Tuesday, stating the IRS always starts contact through the mail, and won't ask for credit card or PIN numbers over the phone.

Wright said she never thought she'd fall for a scam, but these are skilled con artists.

"I'm still a little nervous about it, you know," she said.

The U.S. Treasury has a form you can fill out online if you believe you're a victim of an IRS scam.