Phone scam

[mrbill]

Received a call tonight, claiming to be the IRS, saying I was under investigation. Phone # 315-789-9404. I looked it up on white pages and it is a telemarketer calling from Geneva, N.Y. I did not call back. But, (always a but), maybe I should not have claimed 5,000 miles to buy lottery tickets. Just be aware. Cheers,

[taxea]

I hope you are reporting it.

[Possi]

Calls from DC

I hope you are reporting it.

It doesn't do any good to report it. What we CAN do is educate the public. I got a call, too from the DC area code. It was a recorded message telling me I had been named in a lawsuit, and I needed to call that number right away.

A man with a thick accent answered, "IRS!"

I said, "REALLY? IRS? And you answered on the FIRST RING??" Then, I showered him with a good dose of Tourette's. I called back 2 more time because I wasn't completely satisfied. Then, I blocked the number.

Tell your clients. Tell your friends. Put a PS ANNOUNCEMENT on your Facebook. Call the news. I called the phone company and told them they should put a notice in their phone bills.

I tell all my clients that if ANY taxing authority contacts them in any way for ANY REASON, that I am their first point of contact. First, it's probably a scam. Second, if it is truly the IRS, they don't speak the language.

EDUCATION. And, tell everyone to watch out for their elderly neighbors and friends. This is widespread and absolutely nothing can be done to stop it. It's too big.

[mastertaxguy]

"I hope you are reporting it"

Interesting response, but I read the "I hope you are reporting it" to refer to the lottery tickets and any winnings.

In terms of reporting these scam phone calls there are so many this time of year that I tend to disregard any calls from numbers I don't recognize and delete any voice mails from such numbers.

We all have better things to do.

[DaveinTexas]

Used catalytic converters and such

I ALWAYS ask the client for the phone number from the "IRS" agent that called them so I can do a similar song and dance that Possi does; it is a bit of fun. No time to do it now but I will call them up and ask them if they sell credit card numbers, catalytic converters and other various auto parts, etc. just to waste their time so they don't have that time to scam an unsuspecting person. Good times!

[mrbill]

Thanks for the responses. Just to be clear, i do not buy lottery tickets, so the mileage is a joke. "if we can't laugh, we can't live".