IRScam
Last week I
got two calls on my cell phone from a Lt. Ryan of the IRS informing me that the
United States Government had discovered fraudulent reporting on my tax returns
and I was facing potential prosecution.
I know it is a scam, but I had time so I called the number they directed
me to call. No one answered. I wonder how they rip anyone off if they do
not answer the call.
Today I
received three calls on our land line from the IRS. They were identical robo calls from a very
stilted robo-voice once again telling me I was facing jail time and needed to
call their number. I did not bother to
call this time.
I know it is
a scam. Almost everyone knows it is a
scam, but these scammers clearly spend a good amount of money calling everyone
in the country, they must be finding people who fall for their crap. They must be ripping off a lot of people for
a lot of money.
I’m guessing
they are probably mostly ripping off older people who have lost a mental step
and are easily scared. This pisses me
off, as I am an old person and not far from losing a mental step or two
myself.
Why isn’t
someone protecting the vulnerable?
The
Government can and probably does monitor every phone call in the country. You
can not drink a cup of coffee without leaving DNA. Facebook is watching me as I type this
post. There is no privacy anymore, why
can’t these IRS scamming pricks be caught and thrown in jail?
These
bastards use the phones. How hard is it
to trace them? They have to pay phone
bills, how hard is it to track them?
I’ll bet all the dirty water cocktails in New Jersey that if these
dipshits made the slightest threat to a Senator or Congressman they would be
behind bars the next day.
These people
are taking advantage of the old, the weak and the stupid, do we not care about
the old, the weak and the stupid?
I am old, I
am getting weak and it won’t be long before I am stupid(er), so Gol Dang it, I
want protecting!
Track these
people down. Lock these bastards
up. Don’t tell me it can’t be done, YES
IT FRIGGIN CAN!!
Besides, these multiple phone calls are getting annoying.
Besides, these multiple phone calls are getting annoying.
It scares my kids, so it's the young and naive as well.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it can't be that difficult to track these people down. I chalk it up to lobbyists for phone companies who are making money off of telemarketers and those of us who only keep our landlines so we have a number to give out instead of our cell phone number.
The government won’t make any money tracking them down, and in fact will have to pay money to lock them up. They are safe for the moment, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteThe government doesn't make any money tracking down lots of criminals and they all cost money to put in jail...LOCK THEM UP!
DeleteIt's a scary world out there and even scarier when they enter your life by any means available. I hate those robo calls but we must also beware of scammers calling and pretending to be grandkids who need money to get out of a situation. These days it's way more than "buyer beware".
ReplyDeleteLock them up!
ReplyDeleteI work for a nonprofit law firm, and one of our projects is through a grant from the IRS - who pays us to negotiate with them on behalf of low income clients.
ReplyDeleteThey pay us to negotiate with them!
Anyway, I can't even imagine what kind of horrible criminal one needs to be to get thrown in jail by the IRS. They will negotiate anything.
But it's tough to make scared people believe that.
I do the same thing when I get scam calls. I stay on the line and try to see what I can find out. But man, do those scammer folks are a suspicious lot! I wonder why...
I got one of these calls this afternoon. Of course I didn't pick up. The message didn't mention the IRS directly this time, but said I was being turned over to the U.S. Government for fraud, since they'd been calling me for 6 months and I hadn't responded. The guy on the recording said they'd BEEEEEEEEN trying to contact me.
ReplyDeleteSo that sounds like whoever recorded the message is from somewhere else. Like Canada. Mike Myers from SNL and the Wayne's World movies is from Canada, and he pronounces it BEEEEEEEEN. Or New Zealand, because Phil the Amazing Race host is from New Zealand, and he pronounces it BEEEEEEEEN! That's as far as my detective skills have gotten me. I hope Mike Myers and Phil Keoghan have a good alibi...
There are untraceable 'throwaway' cell phones out there, these people probably buy them buy the boxful just to call people. There are so many scammers of all kinds world-wild now, it would cost far too much in time and money for the Governments to tack and arrest them all and even then there would be more even as they turn the keys on the first lot. People just need to be aware and older people need to have someone looking out for them as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteIt got now that I don't answer numbers that aren't on my phone list and hope that I don't miss something important. There are other ways to get in touch without using the phone so I don't go into a panic over it. It doesn't stop me feeling very angry about it all.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The government absolutely can do something but they won't until/if it becomes beneficial for them to do so.
ReplyDeleteI myself have avoided severe penalties and certain incarceration a number of times now. Perhaps the IRS just doesn't know where to find me even though Google seems to track my every move and I am pretty sure that the Russian operatives monitor all my blogs, emails, and travels around the net.
ReplyDeleteHere the scam is by email and they tell you have a refund comming to you. Don't open it...just delete it. The government is not going to contact you by email.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine who's an internet security guy tells me most of the phone and internet scammers are located in Russia or some of the eastern European countries with very unsophisticated law enforcement. They are pretty much untouchable by the US and they know it. They use Voice Over Internet technology to make it look like they are calling from the US, but of course they aren't. Once a lady called me demanding that I stop calling her with my phony pitch. Verizon told me that they can make it look like a call comes from a number that they just pick at random. Apparently they got mine and called that irate lady. Even if you block the caller they'll just choose another number at random and call you again next week.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting! Then I guess we can't stop them from messing with our elections either...Grrr. Do you know why they keep messing with my blog? I'm pretty sure no one in russia follows, yet I (and I know a lot of others) get zillions of hots a week from Russia.
DeleteVerizon told me they could do nothing, and that my only solution was to change my number. It was a business number that I had on cards, stationary, etc, and I wasn't about to give it up after several decades. And even if I changed my number, there was nothing to stop them from picking that new one at random and doing it all over again. As we've all learned the hard way, technology can be both a blessing AND A CURSE.
DeleteJudging by how many of those calls we have received over the years the government could stop doing everything else and just work this problem and still never catch up. We have more criminals, foreign and domestic, than we have honest citizens it seems. Pop-in-law has yet to fall for this one, but whenever Windows calls to 'fix' his computer he STILL hesitates before calling us to ask if he should obey them. And yes, we've told him don't call us, just hang up and shut off the computer. But he's pretty sure one day the call will be real and he'll miss it!!
ReplyDeleteAh the old days of trusting folks is long gone. I don't answer the phone--or open emails-- unless I know the person.
ReplyDeleteJoe as usual I agree with you 100% on this one, I hate it when people take advantage of others, especially those of us who are getting up there in age and are still so trusting of others. I don't answer any numbers that I don't recognize anymore because of things like this, it's sad that these scammers are allowed to continue preying on good honest folks!
ReplyDelete...these scammers clearly spend a good amount of money calling everyone in the country... Sadly, robocalls are cheap to make - one caller can make thousands of calls every minute. At home and on my cell phone, I never answer calls that I don't have in my contact list. If someone needs me, they can leave a message. At work, about 60 percent of all calls that I pick up are robocalls. It is extremely aggravating and hinders productivity.
ReplyDeleteNever, never call back a number - that only validates to the scammer that yours is a "live" number.