IRS Phone Scam

[JerseyWendy]

After running a brief errand this morning, I came back home to a voicemail....from the IRS. I had a bit of a hard time understanding everything, especially after hearing the word LAWSUIT.

Well, they called again. Caller ID showed up as New York, followed by a phone number. I let it go to voicemail again, but did call-back right after they had left a message.

A man picked up, did NOT identify himself. All I said was that I had received a call from that number. The man (in semi broken English) asked me if I was XYZ (insert my full name, which is a combination of German + Ukrainian, and not easy to pronounce). Even though he butchered the name, I told him that yes, he was indeed talking to that person.

Well....

He then proceeded to tell me that there was a lawsuit against me, and that I was required to answer his questions, and that the phone call would be recorded. Furthermore was I to ONLY speak the truth or I'd be held liable and possibly arrested.

I grew increasingly nervous AND suspicious, so I asked him for his IRS ID# AND his full name, which he gave to me without hesitation. He then warned me to not interrupt him again. WHAT???

I interrupted a few more times, and he grew increasingly hostile. I told him I was not about to start answering any questions without first making sure he was who he said he was. He asked me if I thought this was a scam, and I flat out told him HECK YEAH. He told me "ok, I' will contact the sheriff's office immediately and you will be put under arrest in under 45 minutes." BRING IT ON!!

I was shaking, yes, but pretty sure that it had to have been a scam! Did some googling, found a few sites, REPORTED the incident, and am now sharing it with all of you.

Be careful! NEVER give out information over the phone, no matter WHO you THINK you're talking to.

Phone Scams Continue to be Serious Threat, Remain on IRS ?Dirty Dozen? List of Tax Scams for the 2015 Filing Season

Tax Scams/Consumer Alerts

WBAY - IRS Imposter Scam: What You Need to Know - May 12, 2015

 

[labell]

Wow how strange! I am afraid you were much nicer than I would have been though.

 

[getwozzy]

Wow, at least he gave you a time frame so you can pack and run for the hills [emoji57] lol

How scary though!! What kind of info did he want??? And what did you apparently do wrong?

 

[Terry57]

I'm so glad you posted this, Wendy..I had read about an elderly man who paid them what they were asking These people have no souls.

 

[Kae]

Gosh! Thank you for the tip, I have been getting weird phone calls, too. I was so freaked after a phone call from someone who knew a lot of my tax info! Weird, huh?

 

[JerseyWendy]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4sy2-SMhL8"]The Cop & The Scammer - REAL Phone Conversation! - YouTube[/ame]

Oh I wish I would have recorded MY conversation, so you could all hear the tone in his voice when I asked some questions, LOL.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Wow, at least he gave you a time frame so you can pack and run for the hills [emoji57] lol

How scary though!! What kind of info did he want??? And what did you apparently do wrong?

ROFLMAO, Shirre!!!

I don't know WHAT kind of info he wanted, remember, I was the one who started asking questions, HAHAHHA. He didn't like that one bit.

 

[Christinenc2000]

GOOD FOR YOU.

A friend got the same call. Told the guy to tell the sheriff she had a roast in the over to plan on staying for Dinner when he came to lock her up LOL

 

[veimar]

Oh you were too nice to them! I received these calls several times (yes, from NY), and I threatened to report them to police and then just hanged up. Once just for fun I started talking Russian to them, very rudely, and it took a while for them to get that it was another language. LOL

 

[Christinenc2000]

Just finished two years of computer security for work. For advancement. Its amazing the things people can do . Also the scams running around.

 

[Weezerj]

I'm so glad you posted this, Wendy..I had read about an elderly man who paid them what they were asking These people have no souls.

Exactly, its the elderly that they are usually targeting.

Thanks for posting, hopefully this scumbag gets caught.

 

[Scott]

Hilarious, Wendy! Sadly, these boiler-room scams continue because they always find a few folks willing to bite. The perpetrators represent among the worst aspects of human nature.

 

[JerseyWendy]

I ought to let all of you know that my husband had a field day with those guys all afternoon. He works in the IP department and knows a thing or two about phones, phone systems and such.

My husband made it his mission to call them back (non stop for 2 hours), each time with a different caller ID showing up on THEIR end. I can't even tell you what type of user IDs he all used - let's just say it was hilarious, as were some of the conversations he had with them. (Boy, they may lack some English, but are quite proficient in cursing )

I so pity folks who are not aware that this is a scam. Too many people have actually fallen for this scam (mostly the elderly). I wish Supermarkets, bowling alleys, Bingo Parlors, etc, would all put fliers on their walls that state:

THE IRS WOULD NOT CALL YOUR HOUSE PHONE/CELL PHONE.

 

[GreatBlue320]

I love it that your husband is phone system savvy and could mess with those jerks for awhile! I'd would have loved to have heard some of those conversations!

 

[Kalidasa]

Ha! I got the same sort of call by the scammers. I won't post what I said to him, because multiple swear words aren't allowed on this forum. The IRS never calls, only writes if there is any issue. My great aunt also got a scam call from some dude posing as her grandson, saying he was in jail and needed money. The mistake was, he never calls her grandma, only "ya-ya", lives in Chicago, and has never been in trouble as he's as straight edge as you could get.

 

[Allee]

Thanks for posting this, Wendy! I have to hand it to you for handling it so well! ROFL at Alex toying with them all afternoon.

It's bazaar how far people will go to take advantage of others.

 

[PetoftheDay]

I got this call today - from a cell phone with a Seattle area code! Ha!

 

[RavensGryf]

My dad used to get these calls (he's a senior). We would always find it on voicemail, and most of the time the sentence structure was so bad that it was hard to understand what they were even trying to say (hmm pretty good give away it's not the IRS)! Around that time I got emails warning of this... and you're right, the real IRS would never use the phone to contact people. Finally, after about a year of their voicemails being ignored (they called about once every couple months), they gave up and stopped.

 

[EAI]

My grandma always used to warn us about these calls, we eventually ended up not using any of the house phones but we still have them plugged in LOL. And during the year, I'd get a weird call exactly at 9:03 in school, good thing my teacher was pretty chill with it and knew what was already up.

Without the actual anxiety of this "crazy", it would have been so fun to mess with him. "Um, actually the sheriff coming in 45 isn't the best. Could you send him in a bit early, I got my aunties birthday to go to. Also, ask if he wants a rootbeer from the fridge." More than likely, I'd end up swearing my mouth off and adding in some clever insults.

Because I was constantly warned about out of state numbers and started feeling paranoid I almost ended up losing a chance for a job interview/hiring and I apologized so much feeling so terrible.

 

[Hawk]

What gets me is that news is nearly a year old, since The nightly news and IRS began warning people about it. And they still can't track it down and put a halt to it.

End one a copy cat takes over, never ending.