I've gotten some IRS scam phone calls, the latest from a 347 906 number. And, of course, so have others: "I just got the same message from Steve Martin , & he wanted to help me & wanted me to call him back" https://usaphonescams.com/347-906-8651.tel
I once got a phone call from Steve Buscemi urging me to attend the opening of a local liquor store. I found out, much to my disappointment, that the store owner's last name was Buscemi and he, apparently, had a brother named Steve.
They had a great opening day but no return customers. Or so I would think. Still, a liquor store well situated is a good bet.
Sorry for getting all serious but in the public interest, this needs to be said. The IRS will NEVER initiate collections with a phone call. EVER. The IRS will NEVER threaten a taxpayer with instant arrest unless an immediate payment is made. EVER. The IRS will NEVER direct a taxpayer to pay back taxes to a particular account that isn't the U.S. Treasury. The IRS WILL padlock your business if you are a delinquent trust taxpayer but even then, there will be extensive process available to you. Anyone receiving a telephone call "out of the blue", even with a call back area code of 202 or a call back identifier of "Internal Revenue Service" can rest absolutely assured that this is a scam phone call. Call the FBI or your State Attorney General to report the scam. All this being said, if you are a delinquent filer or you do know you owe back taxes, you can "get right with Uncle Sam" by following the recommendations (and/or perhaps hiring an authorized tax professional) at www.irs.gov.
Thanks, nosborne. I think these phone calls originate in foreign locales where angels fear to tread. The repeating of warnings like yours may be all that can be done.
We have a similar plague of these calls in Canada. I heard on the news they've extracted about $15 million from unwary Canadians in the past year. The "real" tax authorities here have publicly stated pretty well the same things as Nosborne kindly provided - never starts with a phone call, no arrest threats etc. I've had plenty of these calls, starting about a year ago, a bit before I heard about them on the news. Most appear to be from South Asia, where they pretend to have names like "Officer Dan Ryan" etc. even though they can't shake their accents. I almost fell over laughing when I got the first one. These days I just tell them to ...well, you know. J.
Here, these "tax" fraudsters pull off ridiculous cons. I don't know if they do this to US victims, but in Canada, it's common for them to demand payment in pre-loaded gift cards! Apple ITunes cards seem to be one of the favourites, from what I've heard. The victim will agree to pay $2,500, $5,000 or more "to avoid arrest," and is told to purchase $50 or $100 gift cards totalling the required amount. The gift cards are then handed over at a prearranged location. It never ceases to amaze me, what people can be convinced to do - and in such large numbers! Dang, maybe I missed my calling! :smile: J.
My remedy to all of this nonsense is to simply not answer calls from unknown numbers and let them go to VM. I've noticed lately that telemarketers have somehow begun using local vs. toll free numbers. They're pretty slick.
Looking for one phone number I saw that some Chinese outfit seemed to own a block of U.S. phone numbers. But I don't think they were doing the phoning. My guess was that they are a phone service used by others.
It's called spoofing. It's fairly easy to do. Even a casual user has access to it with certain apps (and generally a subscription). You can make a caller ID flash any number real or fake. Telemarketers are really upping their game lately so I wouldn't be shocked to find it becoming illegal in the very near future. Kind of sucks. I had a calling my mom from the White House main number for her birthday thing going for a few years.
