The case where the IRS sent out letters to several cryptocurrency traders in the United States has already been reported by Cryptopolitan, but now reports are coming in from Forbes that several IRS scammers have taken advantage of the situation and are sending fake letters to crypto holders.
Forbes explains that the letters sent to crypto holders notify them about their due tax to the government and threatens them with legal action such as additional fees and even jail time according to the state law.
One part where the scammers revealed themselves to both Forbes and the supposed victims was when they mentioned liens filed against the citizens.
It’s common knowledge that liens are publicly available and any citizen of the United States or otherwise can check themselves to verify the information. It seems the scammers relied mostly on the financially illiterate population to somehow defraud them of their funds.
It’s unfortunate to mention but IRS scams have been a thing in the United States for years now, but the involvement of cryptocurrencies is a first. In the past, most IRS scams would be conducted over the phone, where offshore call centers would target US citizens and lie to them about debt to the government and threaten to have them arrested.
It’s sad to see such a terrible practice translate into cryptocurrencies as well.
