The IRS Is Not Calling to Arrest You: Five Sentenced in Tampa Call Center Scam

Look, if you've ever gotten that call, you know the panic is the point. And for a group of people in Tampa, that panic was a business.

So what happened?

On May 30, 2019, U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington sentenced Sharvil Patel, 23, of Tampa, to seven years and six months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The court also entered an $80,000 money judgment. He had pleaded guilty on February 6, 2019. The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the sentence.

He was the fifth person sentenced in the case. According to the DOJ, the sentences are as follows:

• Alejandro Juarez: 15 months (March 25, 2019)
• Nishitkumar Patel: 8 years and 9 months (March 29, 2019)
• Hemalkumar Shah, 27, a citizen of India living in Tampa: 8 years and 6 months for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, plus an $80,000 money judgment (April 2019)
• Brenda Dozier: 21 months (April 2019)
• Sharvil Patel: 7 years and 6 months (May 2019)

How the scam worked

According to court documents, from 2014 through at least 2016, the defendants worked with India-based call centers that impersonated Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officers. Victims were told they owed money to the IRS and would be arrested and fined if they didn't pay right away.

The money came in three ways:

• Cash withdrawn from prepaid cards that victims bought and funded.
• "Runners" who picked up money victims wired to them.
• Runners who opened bank accounts where victims deposited money.

The runners got the victims' names, locations and amounts, picked up the cash and handed it over, often keeping a fee.

Here's the thing ...

Nobody in Tampa was making the calls. They were the cleanup crew. And they still got up to almost nine years.

I don't know about you, but that tells me the government sees the whole chain as one scheme. Caller, runner, account opener. All of it.

Why should you care?

Government impersonation is a huge driver of anti-robocall rules and enforcement. Every one of these calls makes it harder for honest callers to get answered.

And if you run a payment or collections operation, this case is a warning. If somebody's sending you names and amounts and asking you to pull cash, you're not a vendor. You're a runner.

What to do this week

• Never reference a government agency in a script you aren't authorized to use.
• Never use threats of arrest or fines on a sales or collection call.
• Know where every payment you handle comes from.
• Walk away from "easy money" pickup jobs. Seriously.

Pro tip: if a "tax bill" gets paid with prepaid cards and cash pickups, it isn't a tax bill. That's it.