IRS Telephone Scam

[Edgemeal]

Got crazy telephone call this morning, at first I freaked out, (MP3 of phone call (958,912 bytes)), then I thought... there is no way the IRS would just call you up, the guy doesn't even say who he is calling! For all I know the phone call is for my dog LOL!

Google "IRS Scam" and there are some new news stories of this going around again, IRS also has a page about it,
IRS Telephone Scam
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-...Telephone-Scam

These ppl got some balls!

[Niya]

Is that the actual call you got or a sample posted online by another would-be victim ?

Also, this scammer is an amateur. The way he speaks gave it away. He sounds like a dunce trying to talk like he's educated, overcompensating for a limited vocabulary.

[Edgemeal]

It is the actual call, I recorded it with my MP3 player since I don't have a working MIC for PC.
My phone machine must be limited/set to 1 minute, it cut off before he could give the whole phone number.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Too bad you didn't get the whole number. It would be interesting to give them a call from some payphone, or something, just to see what the scam was about.

[Steve R Jones]

People have reported a particularly aggressive phone scam in the last several months. Immigrants are frequently targeted. Potential victims are threatened with deportation, arrest, having their utilities shut off, or having their driver’s licenses revoked. Callers are frequently insulting or hostile - apparently to scare their potential victims.

I have a co-worker that is here on a work visa... He got a phone call that really freaked him out... He swallowed the bait hook line and sinker for almost an hour... He grabbed his wife's phone and called our boss who told him to hang up

[SJWhiteley]

If you did your taxes correctly this wouldn't be a problem, right?

[Steve R Jones]

Wrong. They are calling/contacting people at random

Are you always 100% certain you did your taxes correctly? I've heard that written copies of the tax code could fill up a truck.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I managed to mess up my simple taxes this last year. Generally, my taxes are now so simple that I could almost go back to the EZ form, except that I had a bunch of capital gains to deal with. However, I got a letter from the state saying that I had made an error on the state income tax. Typical of me, the error was on the single simplest thing on the whole form other than my name. At one point, I could subtract a constant from my tax, and I had subtracted that constant wrong, thereby overpaying by $20. That seemed like an insignificant number, and the letter I got didn't say what I should do about it anyways, so I did nothing. Then, a week or so back I got a check for $20 in the mail.

Normally, I donate any state refund to charity automatically (there are several options available directly on the state tax form). Now I have that silly check. I guess I'll have to do something with it.

I'm surprised that they checked my math, and I'm surprised that they sent me a letter, then a check. It's nice, but I'm still surprised.

[rica]

Got crazy telephone call this morning, at first I freaked out, (MP3 of phone call (958,912 bytes)), then I thought... there is no way the IRS would just call you up, the guy doesn't even say who he is calling! For all I know the phone call is for my dog LOL!

Google "IRS Scam" and there are some new news stories of this going around again, IRS also has a page about it,
IRS Telephone Scam
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-...Telephone-Scam

These ppl got some balls!

Lol! Got an automated call from the IRS, too. It said I owed them money and needed to return the call ASAP to settle the charges. It was stupid. IRS never initiates contact with taxpayers, much less ask for bank information over the phone. I deleted the message.

[SJWhiteley]

I fixed my taxes so that I had a $1 refund. I didn't cash the check. Six months later they sent another check for $1.

[Shaggy Hiker]

That probably gobbled up a bit more than $1. I guess I had best cash my check, though.

[FunkyDexter]

Years ago I worked in Customer Services at British Gas when they intriduced a new billing system that was riddled with bugs. It once sent someone a bill for £0.00. Then a reminder. Then a red letter. Then it kicked off a disconnection summons. No matter what we tried the thing kept coming back like a weed and only got resolved when the engineer was on the doorstep with his spanners and a policeman in tow.

[SJWhiteley]

Years ago I worked in Customer Services at British Gas when they intriduced a new billing system that was riddled with bugs. It once sent someone a bill for £0.00. Then a reminder. Then a red letter. Then it kicked off a disconnection summons. No matter what we tried the thing kept coming back like a weed and only got resolved when the engineer was on the doorstep with his spanners and a policeman in tow.

Let's think about this, seriously, for a minute.

This is why being able to face roll code doesn't make a person with a computer science degree a 'programmer' or a 'developer'. A lot of programmers are completely isolated from the repercussions of their applied skills (sic).

Further, these poorly programmed applications give others excuses for not doing their job - 'it's the system, sorry, I can't do anything about it'.

[InvisibleDuncan]

The way he speaks gave it away. He sounds like a dunce trying to talk like he's educated, overcompensating for a limited vocabulary.

It wasn't Russell Brand, was it?

[Edgemeal]

It wasn't Russell Brand, was it?

Na, Mr. Brand isn't that talented, but is equally annoying.