The "I.R.S." Scam

[MoonCat]

Had a voicemail message on my home phone (which is a cell phone) from "Eric Foster", some guy with an extremely heavy accent who claims he's calling from the IRS (Internal Revenue Service, federal tax folks for those of you outside the U.S.). One of the most obvious scams I've ever heard. "If I don't hear back from you or your retained attorney, then I say good luck to you with the bad things that will unfold on you."



Yeah, I don't think so....*delete*

[drjonah]

Wow, way to put yourself and your company in jeopardy Mr. Foster. Impersonating a government agent is a pretty big no no. You should have saved the voicemail and turned it into the IRS

Edit to add : Just googled it, apparently this is a scam that's been going around for a while. Some scam artists in India are behind it

[AccountingDrone]

I have a droid on Verizon, and one of my saved rings is silence. I go through my call log and make a phonebook entry with autosend to voicemail and silence to all the crap calls. I had been letting them go into voicemail, but even the rings got annoying.

[froglet]

I have a droid on Verizon, and one of my saved rings is silence. I go through my call log and make a phonebook entry with autosend to voicemail and silence to all the crap calls. I had been letting them go into voicemail, but even the rings got annoying.

There is another option too. I know someone who has that tone that comes before the 'this number is no longer in service' and it triggers something in the auto-dialer to take that number off the list.
I tried it myself, but the phone I had at the time would only record, not play audio files so I haven't thought to try on my new one.

[taxguykarl]

Wow, way to put yourself and your company in jeopardy Mr. Foster. Impersonating a government agent is a pretty big no no.

It's likely that this Foster is calling from outside the US. Here is info on this and other tax scams.

Edit to add : Just googled it, apparently this is a scam that's been going around for a while. Some scam artists in India are behind it

Here where to report it

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Wow, way to put yourself and your company in jeopardy Mr. Foster. Impersonating a government agent is a pretty big no no. You should have saved the voicemail and turned it into the IRS

Edit to add : Just googled it, apparently this is a scam that's been going around for a while. Some scam artists in India are behind it

There are variations of this going around and have been for at least the last couple of years.

I've had folks call me claiming to be from the California State Attorney's Office claiming they were going to have me arrested and I'd have to appear in front of a judge the next morning (and this call was after 7 on a FRIDAY night at that.)

That one didn't like me when I pointed out it was Friday and that around these parts, courts are closed on Saturdays and if he really had papers for me, he needed to send written notice of the debt he was calling about (required under the Fair Debt Collection Act of 1996.) Nor did he like it when I asked if he was going to put cops of a plane from California and fly them to NC to pick me up. Oh, and make sure they're cute and ask them what they want for dinner and I'll have it ready for 'em.

Turned out that same phone number had called my house a total of 11 times that evening. Needless to say I filed a complaint with the FTC on their website, which I would suggest to the OP.

And if they start calling you at all hours of the night, that's a big NO-NO as well. Document all information, including any voicemails and send that in to the FTC.

Any reputable company will provide you, on request, not only their name and company name but also supervisor name, phone number and also will send you written notice of the debt in question (they are required to by law.) If any of this information cannot be obtained, hang up on them and again, report them to the FTC. I can't stress that enough but there are so many of these scams from people trying to get money out of hard working people it's unreal.

[MoonCat]

Well, since my house phone is a Tracfone I can't do anything with the voicemail even if I had saved it. I doubt he'll call again, I think they just random dial. From what I saw when I Googled the number, there was a company name associated with the phone number a few years ago, with a completely different scam going at that time.

On one site several people said they called this guy back and he hung up on them when they got feisty

[mjr]

Some of these are probably "Robo Calls". They have a computer that basically dials bunches of numbers at once, and if someone picks up, then they get the scam spiel.

[Sapphire Silk]

Honestly, between the scams, the politcal robo calls and the telemarketers who call in spite of the No call registry/charities . . . I've disconnected my phone from the answering machine. I don't even check the caller ID to see who's calling.

The people I'm willing to talk to on the phone all have my cell phone number.

[SongsOfDragons]

Honestly, between the scams, the politcal robo calls and the telemarketers who call in spite of the No call registry/charities . . . I've disconnected my phone from the answering machine. I don't even check the caller ID to see who's calling.

The people I'm willing to talk to on the phone all have my cell phone number.

Eeeeyup! We're planning on moving soon and I'm seriously debating the wisdom of bothering with a landline. Perhaps the only reason to keep one would be if we live in a mobile 'greyspot' like our current flat (mobile signal not great).

[Mytical]

When I first saw this, I thought it was like the FBI Scam I ran into. Before I explain it, keep in mind that there are precious few websites that I visit.. but I got a virus once..

It popped up a screen that took up the whole computer saying that the FBI had found suspicious web activity, and had locked up my computer. All I would have to do to 'unfreeze' it was go to a money gram shop, buy $300 pack, input the information from the pack.. and if I tried to get around it or such.. that I would be put in jail. I of course found away around it, ran a virus check, and got rid of it for good. Still waiting on the FBI to bust down my door...

[EricKei]

If you're on DNC and still get any telemarketer calls, they're scams/illegal anyway. Unfortunately, most of those operate from outside of the US, so there's precious little the FCC can do about them.

Charities & political stuff, however, are exempt anyway. Argh.

[NecessaryCatharsis]

I didn't realize they made calls also. I get emails all the time from the IRS stating that I owe them money, and also that I am owed a refund. This is very odd, since I have never lived in the US, never made money in the US, and never filed a tax return in the US. Also I would have thought the IRS would have a better grasp on the English language than many of these emails indicate. I look forward to hearing from them on the phone now

[MoonCat]

I didn't realize they made calls also. I get emails all the time from the IRS stating that I owe them money, and also that I am owed a refund. This is very odd, since I have never lived in the US, never made money in the US, and never filed a tax return in the US. Also I would have thought the IRS would have a better grasp on the English language than many of these emails indicate. I look forward to hearing from them on the phone now

Yeah, this guy was clearly not a native speaker of English.

[Sapphire Silk]

Eeeeyup! We're planning on moving soon and I'm seriously debating the wisdom of bothering with a landline. Perhaps the only reason to keep one would be if we live in a mobile 'greyspot' like our current flat (mobile signal not great).

I keep mine because my alarm system works through it. Plus, if there's a power outage, I want to be able to call 911 or anyone else if need be.

I lost power for about a week last winter due to the ice storm we had. I couldn't keep my cell phone charged enough to be reliable in a pinch, so I was glad to have the land line. Didn't need it, thank goodness.

I think I will always keep a landline. Having that number is great to hand out to people I don't want to talk to, yet can truthfully say it is in fact my home phone number.