One day you’re doing nothing but minding your own business when you get a call from someone who says they are from the IRS. These faint and distant words that are barely audible to you are coming through the mouth of an imposter. There’s noise in the background, a strange eerie noise like a thousand bees humming around the hive. You hear the desperation in a foreign accent that keeps ranting and raving to you about how you are under investigation and will go to jail if you don’t pay X amount immediately to the IRS. A memory clicks in your mind about an article you recently read warning you the IRS never contacts or threatens people by phone. They always do their threatening by mail, certified or otherwise.
You are getting ready to hang up because you know this is a fraud, but the guy’s pitch is mildly amusing and you’re curious what he’s going to say next, so you stay on the line until the phony agent starts asking you questions that if answered would have to land in the affirmative.
It’s a mistake to stay on the line no matter how curious you may become. Many times they are recording you on the other end, trying to get you to say stuff like, ‘Yes I guess that would be fine.’ Let’s do it.” Or, “I think we can go ahead and work with that kind of plan.’ These words and simple phrases that you are being prompted into giving an okay can be patched together and used to make up sentences in your own words for hackers to use to go after things like your credit card and bank accounts.
But you were smart enough not to give the caller any of that stuff. You did what your father taught you and just sat there and mumbled incoherently.
If one of these calls makes you nervous and you have doubts, don’t hesitate to call the IRS directly. The only thing it will cost you is a long wait and a lot of explanation. A real agent with a name, badge number, and notepad will eventually get on the line and try to answer as much as he can about that call. The IRS or any big agency appreciates it when you call them about scammers and con-artists. They’ll ask you all types of questions hoping to add something to their list of bad actors and profiles under inspection and investigation in their lost mitigation systems.
Phone scams come in all varieties. The main thing they all have in common is preying on people’s fears, guilt, lack of knowledge, and generosity. Nearly 1 in 6 Americans have lost money to phone scams in the last 12 months, according to the 2019 U.S. Spam and Scam Report from the phone app Truecaller.
While you struggle through life trying to earn a living and protect your family, scammers are out there working overtime plying their trade and becoming ever more sophisticated in their efforts.
So, how do you know it’s a scam? Remember, we’re not just talking about the IRS here, there are thousands of scenarios scammers can come up with to steal your money. After listening to a couple of calls with similar mixtures of lies and duplicity in them, you’ll start to get the idea of what is legit and what is not. As I first mentioned, the thing you’ll notice the most upfront is the phone line is rarely clear, and you have to strain your way through the beginning of the conversation. It seems like the call is coming from someplace far away, perhaps overseas, which is probably the case.
The first couple of times you get a call from a scammer you’ll find yourself blurting out questions like you were standing alone in a dark alley. Who is this? What is this about? How much money do you want me to send? Where do you want me to send it? Where are you calling me from? The person on the other end is short, often rude, and is not in the business of giving out basic information.
One time I sarcastically told one of these characters their check would be in the mail, soon. There was a moment of silence until they went back to grilling me, saying I wasn’t on a high enough credit status to have my personal check accepted. The caller wanted money right now, today, and if I was going to stand any chance of staying out of trouble, he threatened me with jail time and God knows what else, I needed to produce a credit card. When I told him I didn't have a credit card he went on about the grave consequences I was facing. When I asked the guy how grave, he said very grave.
Then he started going off on alternative payments, Things like gift cards or some other type of generic money card. He wanted me to go online and put money on a card, after which he could take my card information right over the phone and make the deposit. He told me to take my time and not to worry, just send him the numbers. When I said I couldn’t do that he offered me a wire transfer as another option. When that didn’t work he told me to get a money order and send it via FedEx. The entire time he had me on the phone he wouldn’t stop asking me for personal information like SSNs, DOB, and passwords. The red flags were swinging in the winds for way too long so I ended the call. It’s a bad idea to stay on as long as I did. It was one of the first times I was confronted with something like that so I made the mistake. Now I immediately hang up. It’s amazing what information they can pull right off your phone when you are talking to them. Please, as soon as you figure it’s a crook, end the call.
Below is a list of the most common types of fraud. It’s good to be wary of all of them:
Threatening calls from the IRS.
Technical support calls.
Fake charity appeals.
Lottery scams.
Family members in peril.
Bank fraud calls.
Insurance, health care, and debt scams.
Website password requests.
Fake customer requests.
Other urgent requests.
For more questions and concerns please go to our site at www.wordwizard.biz. Or email me at rob@wordwizard.biz
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