Hal
SuperDork
2/6/15 12:47 p.m.
The IRS scams are really getting going recently. I never had any of those calls until this year and now we have gotten 2 of them in the last 3 days.
The one this morning had the wife and I both laughing. A very obviously SE Asia (probably Indian) accent using the name "Steve Martin"!
EDIT: Forgot to mention. The caller Id said the call was coming from Burbank, CA
I was getting something similar a few months ago. Something about Federal criminal action. I could tell from the phrasing that it was bogus though.
All the ones I have gotten were on the message machine though. I would find it very interesting to chat one of these guys up and see how far you could take it. I am thinking something along the lines of "Oh no, this phone is being disconnected and I need to go now, please give me a contact number so I can call you back". Maybe get an address out of them also, then ship that all off to the FBI.
mndsm
MegaDork
2/6/15 12:56 p.m.
I got one of those. I yelled at my "agent" to start the recording and identified myself as so and so with the FBI fraud task force. Advised that the call was being traced. Boy did that call end fast.
Guys on another forum I frequent brought this up. They were using the numbers that sowed up on caller ID to create CL ads for free swing sets, real kinky WSM, Recent divorce selling ex's Harley cheap, etc.
My favorite was a guy that answered the phone, the scammer was looking for his wife, the guy told them, "for a million in small bills I'll give you her whereabouts." When they got belligerent, he declared Jihad on them. Then they hung up.
All I get calls for is the free security systems I somehow won without ever entering a contest.
I had one last year that called me 3 times a day for weeks. They left me multiple voicemails with the whole IRS scam thing.
I finally answered and just went off on the guy that picked up - told him to stop calling me
He replied "I'll try" and hung up.
I was very disappointed in the lack of commitment to the scam
In reply to Hal:
Steve Martin would be in the phone book as Navin Johnson!
SVreX
MegaDork
2/6/15 2:11 p.m.
I am sitting in the IRass office. Gotta file a fraud claim- someone filed a return in my name.
In reply to SVreX:
Someone filed returns using my SS 3 years or so. According to the IRS there's nothing they can do about it except to provide me with a secret PIN for filing my returns. No $ loss to me but it pisses me off on many different levels.
EvanR
Dork
2/7/15 12:19 a.m.
It never fails to amaze me how the IRS will (seemingly) accept ANY return. Pick any nine digits off the top of your head, and file a form using that number as the SS#, and they'll accept it. Use the name "Santa Claus", and fill in the boxes at random in crayon, and the IRS will accept it.
Meanwhile, I can't use my credit card without a picture ID.
bigdaddylee82 wrote:
Guys on another forum I frequent brought this up. They were using the numbers that sowed up on caller ID to create CL ads for free swing sets, real kinky WSM, Recent divorce selling ex's Harley cheap, etc.
You've got to be careful doing that. I generally ignore incoming calls from unfamiliar numbers, but I'll run a Google search on numbers from within my local area codes. If it's a legitimate number/business, I'll call back. That happened exactly once, and it turned out to be a Baptist church or hospital or something, and they had just recieved about five other calls just like mine. The scammers were spoofing a real number and had just run a burst of calls.
Most of the time, they spoof a fake number. No telephone interchange will ever start with a zero or a one, yet I'll get caller ID for numbers like (440)035-4813. That would not be a dialable number.
Tell them to call you right back on your house phone. (911) 468-7253. Is what I like to use.
Hal
SuperDork
2/7/15 3:53 p.m.
Knurled wrote: Most of the time, they spoof a fake number. No telephone interchange will ever start with a zero or a one, yet I'll get caller ID for numbers like (440)035-4813. That would not be a dialable number.
This number was 747-201-9800 which is a Burbank CA area code and exchange listed to Level 3 Communications. I couldn't find any info further than that.
We got a all from our own phone the other day.
I've been getting BS calls with the caller ID being my own name … WTF ?