Received a call today from "IRS" they said. I listened very carefully to the call which was 'being recorded'. I took down all the information even the person's name and ID #. Then I was told that I willfully intended to report less earnings on my tax return to the sum of $8,000+. The lady then said, "You're probably wondering ... I interrupted her and said, "No, I'm not wondering anything because I didn't do anything wrong but please continue." Silence. Then her mistake was saying to me, "Mrs. Jones I believe you willfully intended to..." I interrupted her again in a very firm tone and said, "You are wrong to assume that of me and telling me so, let me speak to your supervisor." I insisted on speaking to her supervisor, of course she refused and hung up on me. I called IRS to report this call and before I could go into any depth I was told that there had been swarms of complaints of fraudulent calls presenting to be the IRS. He directed me to IRS.gov where I can give them all the information I obtained throughout the call. I just had to get that off my chest.
Did she actually call you Mrs. Jones? Most of those calls are to random numbers and they have no idea who they are talking to. Lately I've been asking who they wish to speak to. They don't have a name.
Unfortunately I didn't answer the phone but during the conversation she did address me as Mrs. Jones.
I'm hearing about these types of calls more and more. The local news usually warns us when they're happening. I think the scammers are getting more sophisticated. From what I've heard in the recent past, the callers have not only names, but also in some cases, amounts of debt owed (probably from court filings, I would suppose), and the specifics tend to scare some people into giving out their financial information in order to avoid the threat of jail.
Here's a post about the scams, by the Houston Police Department. It details how they trick people into thinking the call is actually from the IRS/SSA. http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/humb...cle_4ceee529-008b-54a7-8b6a-596e3252b4fc.html There are other similar scams that target immigrants. I'm not sure if they specifically target illegals, or if they target both those here legally and illegally, but those scams obviously zero in on the intended targets' fear of the authorities, and sometimes involve violence.
Further along in the day after my post it came to me that we received a call like this last year but it was a message left on voicemail requesting us to return the call or else, da da da da da. I did call back and never got an answer at the number given and never received any mail from the IRS. The IRS agent said there is a program that gathers information. Scary, isn't it?
Yes @Von Jones, I wouldn't speak to them or return their calls, even just to see if a machine picks up and what the outgoing message is. When I spoke to my mom the other day, she said my sister has been receiving these calls, also. She apparently called them back and unleashed some of her anger on them, but I definitely wouldn't recommend that. I'd block the number if that capability existed, or just report it to the police, which is what my sister finally did.
I got two calls, last week, for this scam. The second time, I asked for a name and phone number to call him back, as I want to notify my police chief son about this. Click...oh, and my son isn't a police chief.