LOL. I was planning on using a quote from Taken: 'If you call me again, I will look for you. I will find you. I will kill you.' Another idea: 'Warning: You have reached an unauthorized U.S. Government number. Calling this number again will result in fines, criminal prosecution, and/or death.'
Obvious scam call came this morning, perhaps from a spoofed number. Caller ID merely said "Annapolis [series of spaces] MD." I listened to the answering machine because we do have a friend who lives near Annapolis but I don't know what her phone number is. She wasn't the person calling. Instead, it was a guy with a strange accent, sounded British but not quite, purporting to be calling about some sort of US Treasury crime. His grammar and syntax were somewhat garbled, so it wasn't clear what exactly he was trying to mislead us about aside from that he left a number (not the same as what the caller ID showed) wanting us to call back. Obviously, that's not going to happen.
I haven't yet blocked the caller's number just to see whether they'll try again.
Just received the same recorded message mentioned above by Rich. The message tries to
imply that you are being contacted in referance to criminal charges by the US Treasury. Left phone numbet to call 443-333-8061. This is a scam. My husband is a cop. This is not how the system works.
These are criminal extortionists operating in overseas boiler rooms using VOIP to alter their identities and locations and out of the reach of US law enforcement.
If someone calls saying he's an IRS agent and demands that you send money immediately, hang up.
It's a phone scam.In fact, it tops the IRS "Dirty Dozen" list of tax scams this year, and it's been surging in recent months, the agency said Thursday.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), which oversees the IRS, has received reports of 290,000 scam calls since October 2013 and said nearly 3,000 victims have been swindled out of $14 million so far.
By altering their caller ID number to make it look like they're calling from an IRS office, these scammers often threaten vulnerable people like the elderly and new immigrants with things like arrest, deportation or the loss of their driver's license if they don't pay immediately for money purportedly owed.
Often leaving messages that say it's "urgent" you call them back, the scammers use common names and sometimes say they are from the IRS Criminal Division. They may even claim to know the last four digits of your Social Security number and send follow-up emails that appear to be from the IRS, TIGTA said.
They often demand that payments be made by prepaid debit card.
Once they make their threats, the scammers have been known to call back and again disguise their caller ID so it appears they are calling from the police department or the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
Or sometimes when they call, they may say you have a refund due and ask you to provide personal information so you can claim it.
The real IRS will usually contact you by regular mail first, if it needs to contact you at all. And the agency never demands immediate payment by phone or asks for credit card or debit numbers if they do call. It also never asks for personal or financial information by email, text or social media.
If you get what you suspect is a scam call, report it to TIGTA through its Web site or call 800-366-4484.
Steve Martin, that wild and crazy guy (with his thick Indian or Pakistani accent), apparently now works for the US Dept of Treasury, called me, personally, to inform me of some sort of action being taken against me.
Wow.
As I've stated before, a better use of tax payers dollars would be to use our Predator Drone program to hunt down these [***] and destroy their call centers, these callers, and their families until this sort of scam stops once and for all.
Just receive a call from this number, Annapolis Md on ID. Foreign male voice threatening prosecution and blah blah about the US treasury. Let me help you he claims... Yeah right !!!! Really? This should not be even allowed to occur in America.