We have received three phone messages from this "agency " that sound very similar to those reported above. threatening us with the rest due to some tax problem we were supposed to call immediately on the messages each ended saying "have a nice day".
This morning we got a call from a .gentleman' with a heavy accent saying that we were under federal investigation by an agency which he didn't disclose until we asked. When we said that we were going to call our accountant to deal with this he responded saying that we "would be arrested within the one hour" if we did not deal with him immediately.
It is clearly a phishing scam.
This is a harassing repeat scam call. The names are faked to be very "american" while the thick accent is clearly Indian. The threats are intense and either say federal/IRS/criminal investigation and always threaten you with jail/police. I am beyond sick and tired of getting these calls and trying to figure out how to report this harassment, because it is way more than solicitation or phishing.
Report the Calls to the real IRS here:
•report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 800-366-4484.
•You can also file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at FTC.gov. Add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments in your complaint.
Do consider maybe getting a call blocking device or phone.. You can google them and many are around $60.00 or so.
An Indian man told me that a warrent for my arrest has been issued lest I purchase three GREEN MONEY PACK VOUCHERS for a sum of $1300.00 at Rite Aid Pharmacy while he waits on a recorded line as I go to the store. I went along with the scam pretending just that. He then demanded the 14 digit code numbers on the back of each card. I mad up three random numbers and he replied "thank you for your cooperation Sir we have just removed the warrent." After wasting his time for 45 minutes over the phone and trying to stifle my giggles I then tod the scammer he has ben scammed lol. He called me every four letter name in the book and then told me that he makes more money scamming people than I would mak in a lifetime.
This is some coward hiding behind a magicJack device plugged in at some God-forsaken corner of the world where there is Internet service. He's no better than a common criminal using a magicJack device and your fear the same way a common thief uses a toy pistol hidden in the pocket of his overcoat to make a bulge that looks like a real gun.
You can verify that this is a magicJack number by searching for it at http://www.phonevalidator.com .
This scam has been extensively researched at
http://www.pindropsecurity.com/consumer-fraud ... irs-phone-scam/ and it was found that magicJack numbers are frequently used, and many of the scammers are operating out of India. There is even an audio recording of a call returned to one of these numbers and a written transcript of the recording contained in links from the Pindrop Security blog.
MagicJacks are readily obtainable outside of the United States for about $100 US and can come with up to a year of free calling to the U.S. and Canada. In India, see, for example,
http://magicjack.in .
So it doesn't take long to turn a profit, even if only 0.1% of the people they call are stupid enough to believe the scammers.
In addition to the regular reporting channels, e.g., the Department of the Treasury, the FTC, and/or your local state attorney general's office, you might also report the abuse to YMAX Corp. This is a fully-owned subsidiary of the company that sells magicJacks. YMAX Corp. is in charge of assigning telephone numbers to magicJack devices. I have seen reports that they are pretty good at responding to complaints and may be able to permanently shut off a magicJack device, if necessary, so that it can never be used again.
The YMAX Corp. main web page is at:
http://www.ymaxcorp.com
and their site giving information on how to lodge a complaint is at:
http://www.ymaxcorp.com/contact.html
Note that the "contact" website gives a clickable link to a "live chat" where you can make your complaint.
An Indian man told me that a warrant for my arrest has been issued unless I purchase three GREEN MONEY PACK VOUCHERS for a sum of $1300.00 at Rite Aid Pharmacy while he waits on a recorded line as I go to the store. I went along with the scam pretending just that. He then demanded the 14 digit code numbers on the back of each card. I made up three random numbers and he replied "thank you for your cooperation Sir we have just removed the warrant." After wasting his time for 45 minutes over the phone and trying to stifle my giggles I then told the scammer he has been scammed lol. He called me every four letter name in the book and then told me that he makes more money scamming people than I would make in a lifetime.