Lucy at the National Tax Executive Office Works for a Fictional Agency
By Ken Duggan · March 15, 2026
The voicemail arrives in a calm, professional tone. Lucy, calling from the National Tax Executive Office, leaves her direct line as 833-727-9439 and says there's a new update on your tax file that requires an immediate callback.
One person received this exact message twice in the same week. The first time, Lucy left 833-727-9439. The second time, she left 844-487-9799.
The National Tax Executive Office doesn't exist. Never has.
The IRS operates through clearly named divisions like Criminal Investigation and the Taxpayer Advocate Service. When the agency needs to reach you about a routine tax matter, it sends official mail to your address. It does not cold-call you with a fabricated office name and a demand for an immediate callback.
How the operation works
This scheme connects to a broader government impersonation network. Each phone number collects complaints until it becomes too recognizable, then the operation moves to a fresh line and runs the same script. A recorded or live voice claims to represent either the IRS directly or a made-up agency. The message always includes urgency language about your tax file, your account, or a refund that requires immediate action.
A recent Better Business Bureau report captures a variation closely. A caller identified herself as representing the "National Executive Taxation office with the IRS Fresh Start Program" and told the recipient that money available to residents of their state would disappear unless they responded right away. The office name shifted slightly from Lucy's version. The pressure tactics did not.
Another reported call came from someone at the "US Claim Registry," warning that funds tied to the recipient's name from a past tax refund or stimulus payment would be returned by a specific deadline. The US Claim Registry is also fabricated, and so is the deadline.
When victims call back, they reach sophisticated phone trees with hold music and multiple department transfers. That structure is designed to extract Social Security numbers, bank account details, and other personal information under the cover of identity verification. Some operations then demand payment by gift card or wire transfer to resolve a supposed tax problem. Others skip the payment demand entirely and focus on collecting enough personal data to file fraudulent tax returns or open credit accounts in the victim's name.
Making these calls is a federal crime. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the agency that oversees IRS-related fraud, actively investigates these schemes. The calls are prosecuted as wire fraud and impersonation of a federal officer, each count carrying a maximum of 20 years behind bars. In one of the largest cases, the operator of the India call centers behind this exact scheme drew a 20-year federal sentence in 2020 and was ordered to repay $8.97 million in restitution. Between 2013 and early 2025, investigations into IRS impersonation produced 251 convictions and more than 1,079 years of combined prison time.
Fresh numbers in the rotation
Community reports show new lines being added regularly. One report flagged (720) 856-9310 as an active tax scam line. Another flagged (720) 861-9537 for repeated calls and texts. The highest-complaint numbers in this site's database accumulate hundreds of reports before the operation retires them.
Blocking a single number offers limited protection when the scheme spans many lines. The more reliable signal is the voicemail itself. Lucy works for an office that doesn't exist, leaves callback numbers that accumulate fraud complaints, and manufactures urgency around tax matters the IRS handles through the mail.
If you get one of these calls, report it. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration takes reports at tigta.gov or 800-366-4484, and the Federal Trade Commission collects them at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. You can also notify your state attorney general's consumer protection office, and if you lost money, file a report with your local police, who can refer larger cases to the district attorney.
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