IRS Impersonators Steal Nearly $9 Million from Thousands of Victims in Nationwide Scheme

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https://www.justice.gov/usao-edar/pr/irs-impersonators-steal-nearly-9-million-thousands-victims-nationwide-scheme

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Eastern District of Arkansas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 26, 2017

IRS Impersonators Steal Nearly $9 Million from Thousands of Victims in Nationwide Scheme

LITTLE ROCK—Patrick C. Harris, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), and Robert G. Feldt, Special-Agent-in-Charge, Social Security Administration, Dallas Field Division, announced today the unsealing of a superseding indictment and the Tuesday arrests of seven individuals who participated in a nationwide scheme to steal nearly $9 million from unsuspecting taxpayers by impersonating Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents.

The superseding indictment, returned by a grand jury in the Eastern District of Arkansas on April 4, 2017 and unsealed today, charges 10 individuals with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Two defendants—Jeniffer Valerino Nuñez and Dennis Delgado Caballero—were also named in 21 counts of wire fraud. Nuñez and Caballero, who were previously arrested in Miami on May 23, 2016, and remain in federal custody, were first named in the original indictment filed on June 8, 2016.

Tuesday’s operation, which lasted into the evening, resulted in the arrest of seven of the individuals named in the superseding indictment. Those seven are all Cuban nationals who were living in south Florida, primarily Miami. Tuesday’s arrests took place in Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida. Lazaro Hernandez Fleitas, 34, of Orlando, remains at large.
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In the scheme, individuals purporting to be employees of the IRS would call and threaten victims with legal action, arrest, and imprisonment for a supposed debt owed to the IRS. The callers made these threats and used other methods of intimidation to persuade the victims to wire money utilizing MoneyGram, Walmart-2-Walmart Money Transfer, and other wire-transfer services.
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In addition to Arkansas, investigators located wire transfer collections as part of the scheme in the following states: Oklahoma, Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Utah, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, and Washington, D.C. Currently, investigators have identified 7,797 nationwide victims for a total discovered loss amount of $8,958,995.71.

“These arrests demonstrate that TIGTA and its law enforcement partners continue to make significant progress in our investigations related to the IRS impersonation scam that continues to sweep the country,” George said. “Over the past three years, this scam has resulted in reported taxpayer losses of more than $55 million. The scammers are relentless and so are we. Our investigators will not rest until we have brought those responsible for this scheme to justice.”
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