I am a Canadian citizen and I am receiving the same calls, he claims to be with the Federal Government here in Canada and has left threatening messages on my voice mail. These scammers need to be stopped!
I received a call from someone claiming to be from the Bureau of Investigations at the IRS. I suspected it was a fraud since I know the IRS does not call people - they would send official correspondence. Person called from number 202-888-3095 which number comes up near the White House. He stated his badge number is 46719. Do not call this person back or give them information - he is trying to defraud you! Foreign accent - sounded Southeast Asian.
I just got the same message as all of the above. Sir Jonathan Knight (although I thought it was Jonathan Nice because of the wonderful accent. When I checked my missed calls, there were only 3... all the same, Private Caller. No name, no number. Wish I was home. I could have played with him a bit and said I was an FBI agent for the IRS working with the government to track down fraudsters like him. Oh well... life goes on so Happy Holidays to all!!!
I got the same call today. You can report it but I suspect that no US agency can do anything about it. You could go out of your way and have the number shut down but they would have another one (they already have many im sure) in mins. The best way to shut these guys down is to do what is called scam baiting (I wont explain that here as you can look it up). Once enough folks scam bait them they will not know what is real and move on. Get the scam baiters after them or have some fun yourself if you have the time.
Same as all of the above, with an Indian-sounding male identifying himself as IRS "Officer" Jonathan Knight, with a different badge number and this phone number (302) 966-9241. He called a resident in the jurisdiction where I work as a police officer and she reported it promptly. I posed as her concerned nephew who helps her with issues that arise. First off, there are no IRS "officers." There are special agents and the like and this guy did some research, but was off on several facts.
Please, never believe that any agency would contact you like this and that they would take Western Union or a Green Dot-type card as payment for anything. They prey upon the niceness of our seniors, who grew up in a different era, where you couldn't find so much information about anyone to sound legit. Anyway, this guy walked me all the way through going to our local CVS to get the Green Dot. That's when I asked him what it's like being such a scumbag exploiter. Once I let him know I was a cop he actually took the time to tell me that he and others do it as a regular job. I could hear many others in the background. He was in a scamming call center. He said that if I was a cop, to find him. You can't. VOIP is absolutely crazy difficult to identify accounts, let alone real accounts. Then he said that he gets paid $100 per week, working 8-5pm like the others and that they do it because they are so poor. I've arrested so many street criminals for robbery, burglary, theft, etc...and they were all poor too. This guys justifies grand theft and scheming to defraud our elderly while he sits in A/C, sipping a Coke, and complains that he makes so little being a telephone scam artist.
EDUCATE others use Fone Finder dot com to identify the carrier of the phone number. It will be a bogus VOIP account. Contact that company to report it, report it to your local law enforcement, and demand they follow-up. Don't settle on being told, "There's nothing we can do... the suspects are overseas." You can get the number used shut down. It's not much, but it's worth it.
As a side note, I discussed it with the clerk at the CVS and she said that daily they get people coming in to buy Green Dot cards to pay scam artists. She inquires of seniors buying the cards and enlightens them. Most go unreported, I believe because victims feel embarrassed. I get that, but educate your family members, especially the seniors, and offer to help them if they think that they are being scammed, and/or convince them to contact their local law enforcement agency.
Kharma... They will get theirs. Let's just work harder to keep them from getting ours.