California woman gives up thousands to scammer claiming to be from the IRS

El Dorado, CA - A California woman is speaking out after falling for a scammer that claimed to be from the IRS.

She received a series of voicemails from someone saying he was "Davis" from the IRS.

After the traumatizing experience, the victim decided to share her story as a warning to others, but wanted to remain anonymous.

According to the victim one of the voicemails said, "We're trying to reach you. This call is an official final notice from the IRS, Internal Revenue Service. The reason for this call is to inform you that the IRS is filing a lawsuit against you."

She finally called the number back, and said the person on the other end of the phone was very pushy.

According to the victim, the man on the phone instructed her to go to her bank, withdraw money, buy iTunes gift cards, and read the numbers on the gift cards over the phone. He claimed that the gift cards could be used as payment for her IRS debt, but it had to be done immediately.

She followed the man's instructions, and gave the scam artist up to $2,800 before she told her dad what was happening and hung up the phone.

The victim's father, Richard Ignacio, was extremely upset about the situation, and promptly contacted the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department, Apple, Target, the FBI, his daughter's bank, and the Federal Trade Commission.

The FBI and Treasury Inspector General Websites have posted information about this specific scam, but the victim's father wants to bring more awareness to the issue.

Although the scam artist got away with some money, Richard and his daughter were able to return some of the gift cards that were not used.