Fake IRS Scam Calls

[Rolfe]

I do not know if this is more than a Wisconsin thing, but I thought that people may want to be aware of this if it is.

When IRS scammers called, police and a sheriff answered

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – You probably already know, but the call goes like this: “Hello, we have been trying to reach you. This call is officially a final notice from IRS, Internal Revenue Services. The reason of this call is to inform you that IRS is filing a lawsuit against you.”

That’s the phone call many people across Northeast Wisconsin have been getting. We’ve reported on this scam for two years and it’s not letting up.

http://wbay.com/2016/05/12/police-hang-up-on-irs-scam-calls/

We have had three of these calls in the past week.

 

[InTheLight]

I do not know if this is more than a Wisconsin thing, but I thought that people may want to be aware of this if it is.

When IRS scammers called, police and a sheriff answered

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) – You probably already know, but the call goes like this: “Hello, we have been trying to reach you. This call is officially a final notice from IRS, Internal Revenue Services. The reason of this call is to inform you that IRS is filing a lawsuit against you.”

That’s the phone call many people across Northeast Wisconsin have been getting. We’ve reported on this scam for two years and it’s not letting up.

http://wbay.com/2016/05/12/police-hang-up-on-irs-scam-calls/

We have had three of these calls in the past week.

I imagine the first time you got the call, you had a bit of concern mixed with skepticism. They can make it sound very convincing. The gall of these people is amazing.

I haven't gotten the IRS scam call, but I get plenty of other telemarketing calls. I LOVE to keep these people on the line in order to keep them from bothering other people. Sometimes I will feign ignorance about their products/services and ask a bunch of questions. My favorite calls are from stock brokers in New York City. They talk a mile-a-minute and they have the strong NY accent. They are very good a ramping up the pressure and sounding reasonable. When I start asking intelligent questions about particular investment vehicles you can practically hear them sit up in their chairs at attention and the tone of their voice changes. It's fun. I typically end these calls by telling them my money is all tied up at another brokerage house (true) and at my TD Ameritrade account. But thanks for the chat.

Don't get me started on the calls I get from credit card processing companies that promise a lower rate than I'm currently paying. I get a half dozen calls per week from these people.

 

[Rolfe]

I imagine the first time you got the call, you had a bit of concern mixed with skepticism. They can make it sound very convincing.

Not really. The first one we received was from the Internal Revenue Services. Besides, we have dealt with the Feds enough to know that this is not how they do things. That and the heavy accent of the caller made it a bit too obvious...

Who I feel bad for are those who are more trusting of human nature. Of course, these are the people these predators look for.

 

[Squire Robertsson]

We get them periodically. However, I know the IRS starts their actions with a registered, return receipt letter.

 

[InTheLight]

Authorities said Tuesday that they have arrested five people in Miami who are accused of tricking 1,500 victims into paying a total of $2 million to the IRS they didn’t owe, part of a far-flung tax scam that so far has netted criminals $36.5 million.

The suspects, all Cuban nationals who were arrested Monday, were charged with wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They falsely impersonated IRS agents, Treasury Department authorities said, demanding money from their victims and telling them they would be arrested if they didn’t wire payments immediately.

In recent months, the scammers demanded that their victims pay them using iTunes gift cards.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...d-for-impersonating-irs-agents-in-phone-scam/