There’s a pack of scoundrels out there looking to rob proud military veterans out of their hard-earned money, and we figure the best way to stop them is to pass along their scam, so that you can inform your friends and family of their dastardly ways, and they can be brought to justice as soon as possible.

This scam in particular involves the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The scammers pose as agents of the government entity responsible for collecting taxes, and try to fool vets into believing they’re legit, and that they need to send them cash immediately.

One elderly vet spilled the beans on the scheme — here’s his story (and the crime) via Popular Military (read carefully and take it all in — we don’t want this to happen again):

70-year-old Donald Churchill of Olathe, Kansas told FOX4 News that someone called him from a DC area code on Tuesday telling him he owed the government thousands of dollars in back taxes. They also said if he did not pay immediately, he’d be hauled off to prison.

Churchill – who may have been a little skeptical at first- started to think the call was legitimate when the person on the other end began talking about details of his life only the government could know.

Churchill, who served 3 years in the Army during Vietnam, says the caller knew about his military service and about where he’d worked.

“The man tells you, ‘I know what you were doing in March of 2012,’” Churchill said. “You think, ‘Ok.’ He told me other things about myself and my family and I’m thinking, ‘how do you know this?’ I’m beginning to think to myself, ‘maybe this is legit.’”

He was told to buy prepaid credit cards and  “load them with thousands of dollars.” Churchill mailed the cards to a US Treasury Department address, which appeared to be valid. Before he did that, however, he gave the caller all the card numbers and security information that was on them.

You see, you can easily sniff out a fraud IRS agent, because nine times out of ten, a legit one will contact you via mail — NOT by phone.

According to the Johnson District Attorney’s office, Churchill filed a complaint and his troubles are being investigated. They weren’t surprised, however, when he put it in. It matched other complaints identically.

If you think you’ve been scammed in a similar way, don’t hesitate to call your local authorities and have them look into it as soon as possible.