Internal Revenue Service Calling
@RichardMeister (5328)
Otis Orchards, Washington
April 20, 2016 4:31pm CST
I just received a call from someone claiming there was a lawsuit in my name from the IRS (Internal Revenue Service). What did I do? I hung up on the scammer. You see, the IRS will never call you on lawsuits.
If the IRS is after you for anything they will contact you by snail mail. Believe me because the IRS has contacted me. They sent me a letter telling me I was in big trouble because I had done something wrong on my income taxes. And it scared the living poop out of me–until I read the entire letter. It turned out I owed the IRS less than a dollar and they do not collect anything less than a dollar. But it was still scary.
Getting a call form the IRS will scare some people half to death. That is why a scam like this works. It is not a good feeling to have the IRS after you.
This phone call sounded like a recording. My name was not mentioned. If the IRS was after me, I’m sure they would have used my name and definitely not a recording. Another thing that was strange about the call was it was not from a 1-800 number. I’m sure if I was getting a call from the real IRS they would be calling from a 1-800 number. I do not believe the IRS would be calling long distance without doing it in a money saving way.
Besides all that the news warned us someone was pretending to be with the IRS claiming we are in a big pile of excrement over a lawsuit.
5 people like this
7 responses
@much2say (57760)
• Los Angeles, California
21 Apr 16
Sounds like a lot of people are getting these calls - some of my friends posted on FB that they got these fake IRS calls as well. I know the news is out there that these are all scams, but surely there are those few that fall for it unknowingly. Good thing you hung up on them!
3 people like this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
21 Apr 16
@JudyEv Yeah, fudging your figures is never a good idea.
1 person likes this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
21 Apr 16
Yes, I think I would have hung up on them without hearing it on the news. It just didn't sound legit to me.
1 person likes this
@maezee (41985)
• United States
20 Apr 16
You are very right - there is a TON of phishing going around with folks pretending to be the IRS who are going to put a warrant out for your arrest if you don't meet them in an Apple store with your debit card on hand. I kind of wonder who falls for this stuff - but then again - I am sure there must be people. This year seems even worse than last year. **To everyone who gets these scam calls -- report it to your local IRS office!!** There is also an e-mail you can report it to (I want to say it's "Phishing@irs.gov" so they can look into it. Ugh!
2 people like this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
21 Apr 16
I think some elderly people may fall for this. The IRS has put the fear of God into so many people that just hearing IRS can scare the living daylights out of them.
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
20 Apr 16
They are always coming up with new ways of scamming you.
1 person likes this
@Marcyaz (35316)
• United States
21 Apr 16
@RichardMeister
Yes they are like the one where they send you saying they are a barrister in London and you are mentioned in a will. lol
@yukimori (10193)
• United States
21 Apr 16
I had one the other day. Promptly reported it through the DoNotCall.gov site, since they collect complaints about robocalls as well as telemarketing.
Hadn't seen anything about a scam going around, but it doesn't surprise me. They find a few gullible victims every time so they keep it up.
1 person likes this
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
21 Apr 16
I imagine just getting one a day could really add up.
@RichardMeister (5328)
• Otis Orchards, Washington
21 Apr 16
Here in the US the IRS has wheeled its power around throwing people in jail and taking property away from many for the lack of tax payments (or lack of full payments) that I can see how people would fall for it without being that gullible. Just mentioning you are in trouble with the IRS can have some people shaking in their boots. The IRS is very powerful and have ruined many lives.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381760)
• Rockingham, Australia
21 Apr 16
I still feel anxious when there are police around. It stems from them having so much prestige and authority when I was little. The police were very much respected and it was really bad to be in trouble with the police. Same sort of thing I guess. It's good you recognised the phone call for a scam.
1 person likes this
