By Brad Devereaux
mlive.com
(TNS)
KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI — It started with a pop-up on his laptop.
Once it was over, a Kalamazoo County man was down over $1 million after emptying his retirement and bank accounts at the instruction of the caller, later revealed to be a scammer.
A police report from the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office reveals the staggering cost: $1,051,000 from his 401(k), IRA and personal bank account transferred to the voice on the other end of the line.
The Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office was called on Jan. 7 to investigate the money transfers.
The victim told police he panicked and called a number on the pop-up who claimed to be the IRS.
The person who picked up claimed to be an IRS agent.
“(The victim) stated to me that the male he was talking to stated he was a clerk for the IRS and that (the victim’s) personal information had been leaked onto the black web,” the police report states.
The voice told him to liquidate assets and put them in a “Federal IRS locker” to prevent his assets from being stolen, the man told police.
The first transaction was an $8,000 transaction through an ATM at a local beer store. He was told to put more checking account and the rest of the transactions were done by cashier’s checks through his bank.
“I asked him if his bank responded to these transactions at all and if the account was flagged for strange activity and (the man) stated no,” a deputy wrote in the report.
Department of Homeland Security investigators in Grand Rapids took over the investigation, the sheriff’s office said. An investigator at the federal agency is working an investigation with a similar circumstances and suspects, the sheriff’s office said.
The IRS warns people to be cautious to avoid being scammed.
Demands or threats are some of the tactics scammers use to get money from people.
“Impersonators want you to pay ‘now or else,’” the IRS wrote on its website. “They threaten arrest or deportation. They don’t let you question or appeal the amount of tax you owe.”
Photo credit: AndreyPopov/iStock
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©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit mlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Tags: 401(k), bank accounts, IRAs, IRS, IRS scam, retirement accounts, scams
