Strange message from the 'IRS'

[M.D. Holloway]

Today I got a call from a DC number - I didn't pick up but they left a message. The man had an Indian accent and said he was from the IRS and that I had to call him back and that I'm being investigated. Hmmmmm ok.
He said if I didn't call back that 'the cops' in my town would arrest me. So I called back and it went to voice mail - this time it was of another person with an Indian accent but a women. She said she was with the IRS as well. The answering machine said her mail box was full and wouldn't take any messages.

First off I don't think the IRS would call and leave such a message. It has scam written all over it.

Have you guys had this happen?

[masraum]

I haven't had it happen, but I've heard of similar stuff. The IRS wouldn't proceed like that, and if they left a message to call, they would make damn sure the mailbox wasn't full. I also don't think there's anyway in hell that they would threaten cops coming to get you. If the IRS wanted cops to come get you, I don't think they'd warn you.

It's clearly a scam. It's very, very easy to make your caller ID say anything you want it to say assuming your telco will let you.

[john70t]

Get email from the 'IRS' and 'Equifax' all the time saying my credit report has changed.

Those guys are impersonating federal officers.
That's a little bit of a no-no.

[Noah930]

Reverse look-up the number.

Mrs. Noah was at her parents' house a couple weeks ago. The phone rang and she answered. She got some schpiel that someone at the house was looking at "terrorist websites." She thanked them and hung up (but not before she caught the number and location on caller ID). It was a big family weekend, so there were about 15 people staying at the house. Regardless, I figured the FBI (or CIA or NSA) usually don't call you to warn you about stuff like that even if it's true. I looked up the number and it's associated with a telemarketer. Plus, there happens to be an FBI office in the neighboring town. So I told Mrs. Noah that if that caller were to call back, just let him know we were grateful for the information, and that we'd be happy to forward his concerns, phone number, and location to the FBI office just a few miles away.

[bmcuscgr94]

It's happening here too, its a scam

Over-The-Phone Tax Scam Prompts Alert By The Internal Revenue Service | News - KEYT

[look 171]

I got hit with the same thing so I posted it here a few months ago. He mention deposit money at a government store. WTF is a government store? Same Indian accent with with an English first and last name.

[Gogar]

The IRS will never telephone first.

Always Snail Mail.

Ignore it.

[JJ 911SC]

As per Godar

Originally Posted by JJ 911SC

If IIRC, in both Canada and US the IRS will not initialy contact you by phone.

Extract from: IRS Reiterates Warning of Pervasive Telephone Scam


The IRS will always send taxpayers a written notification of any tax due via the U.S. mail. The IRS never asks for credit card, debit card or prepaid card information over the telephone. For more information or to report a scam, go to Internal Revenue Service and type "scam" in the search box.

from PP: got phone scam this morning

[slow&rusty]

I had the same thing recently, same threat about cops coming to arrest me blah blah. Its a huge scam.

[widgeon13]

Yeah, and I got a personal invite to the White House to talk strategy with the loser.

Don't think you have anything to worry about.

[VFR750]

+1

This is very true. The IRS only uses mail. They are also on a timeline that is very long and patient. Just went through this with in laws taxes. Very paced correspondance. Talked to a real person and they were nice and explained the process timeline. 30-45 day cycle.

In the end, I provided the documents they needed. 30 some odd days later they sent a letter saying they got the info, 20 days later a letter came and said we were ok. No added taxes owed.

So, in my recent example, I know the IRS would not call like that.

Scam

The IRS will never telephone first.



Always Snail Mail.



Ignore it.

[onewhippedpuppy]

It's fortunate that most scammers are foreign and stupid.

[fastfredracing]

Come and get me habeeb.

[M.D. Holloway]

I knew it was a scam but there was that little voice inside that really wanted to hear what they had to say. I know I shouldn't do it but I prolly get a call a week about some sort of thing and I always talk to them longer ten they want - it's entertaining to me and it wastes their time, time which they could be using to scam some old person.

I do wonder how successful these things are - must be or they wouldn't keep doing it right?

[Nathans_Dad]

We've gotten 3 calls from that number this week. I heard they estimate that scam has netted over $4 million. Ridiculous.

[M.D. Holloway]

Wonder how much they could make if they applied the same energy towards something legit? About 1/20th I would imagine ...

Fear and greed seem to be the quickest way to get into a wallet.

[jwasbury]

It's stopped for the most part, but a few months back I was getting 4 or more calls per day from some scammers who sounded like they were from India. It was some payday loan scam.

I decided since they wouldn't stop calling, I'd mess with them. I played with the guy for 15 minutes before he finally realized I wasn't going to offer up the $50 "application fee" he wanted to process my "loan".

[M.D. Holloway]

I get companies wanting me to refinance with them - I waste their time for a bit them tell them either I don't have a mortgage - house paid off or I was forclosed on. Of course I always go into a long stream of consciousness type story filled with romance, thievery and mayhem. It's worth a laugh to anyone hearing it (save my wife who always gets pissec off when I do it ).

[GH85Carrera]

We get the bs scam calls all the time at work. The most useless are the ones that claim they are from google. All we can do is waste their time is things are slow at the moment. If we are busy we just hang up.

[rwest]

I seem to get a couple calls a day, but not home when they call, the caller ID says "Novatel."

Maybe some phones can do this, but I've never heard of it, but wouldn't it be cool if you could just hit a button and that number would never again make the phone ring?