This Man Threatens Her and Here’s What The IRS Recommends

When Fortuna resident Lee Ramsay got the following threatening call on her answering machine, she says she knew better than to believe it–she’s already been scammed a while ago by another caller and she wasn’t falling for this one. But, the man’s voice was “authoritative,” she said. She knew that other people might be taken in. So, she filmed the call. She’s hoping that sharing video and letting others hear the man’s forceful tone and threatening words would help other people realize they don’t have to do what he says.

Here’s what the IRS says about these kinds of calls:

Press release from the IRS:

The IRS continues to warn consumers to guard against scam phone calls from thieves intent on stealing their money or their identity. Criminals pose as the IRS to trick victims out of their money or personal information. Here are several tips to help you avoid being a victim of these scams:
Scammers make unsolicited calls. Thieves call taxpayers claiming to be IRS officials. They demand that the victim pay a bogus tax bill. They con the victim into sending cash, usually through a prepaid debit card or wire transfer. They may also leave “urgent” callback requests through phone “robo-calls,” or via phishing email.

Callers try to scare their victims. Many phone scams use threats to intimidate and bully a victim into paying. They may even threaten to arrest, deport or revoke the license of their victim if they don’t get the money.

Scams use caller ID spoofing. Scammers often alter caller ID to make it look like the IRS or another agency is calling. The callers use IRS titles and fake badge numbers to appear legitimate. They may use the victim’s name, address and other personal information to make the call sound official.

Cons try new tricks all the time. Some schemes provide an actual IRS address where they tell the victim to mail a receipt for the payment they make. Others use emails that contain a fake IRS document with a phone number or an email address for a reply. These scams often use official IRS letterhead in emails or regular mail that they send to their victims. They try these ploys to make the ruse look official.

Scams cost victims over $23 million. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA, has received reports of about 736,000 scam contacts since October 2013. Nearly 4,550 victims have collectively paid over $23 million as a result of the scam.
The IRS will not:
Call you to demand immediate payment. The IRS will not call you if you owe taxes without first sending you a bill in the mail.

Demand that you pay taxes and not allow you to question or appeal the amount you owe.

Require that you pay your taxes a certain way. For instance, require that you pay with a prepaid debit card.

Ask for your credit or debit card numbers over the phone.

Threaten to bring in police or other agencies to arrest you for not paying.
If you don’t owe taxes, or have no reason to think that you do:
Do not give out any information. Hang up immediately.

Contact TIGTA to report the call. Use their “IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting” web page. You can also call 800-366-4484.

Report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Use the “FTC Complaint Assistant” on FTC.gov. Please add “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes.
If you know you owe, or think you may owe tax:
Call the IRS at 800-829-1040. IRS workers can help you.

Phone scams first tried to sting older people, new immigrants to the U.S. and those who speak English as a second language. Now the crooks try to swindle just about anyone. And they’ve ripped-off people in every state in the nation.

Stay alert to scams that use the IRS as a lure. Tax scams can happen any time of year, not just at tax time. For more, visit “Tax Scams and Consumer Alerts” on IRS.gov.

Each and every taxpayer has a set of fundamental rights they should be aware of when dealing with the IRS. These are your Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Explore your rights and our obligations to protect them on IRS.gov.

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14 Comments
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Jeff Jacobsen
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Jeff Jacobsen
8 years ago

Well I’m happy they resolved the problem! NOT!!! We pay our taxes to employ the same person she called for help. Why can’t they put a trace or go back and or look through the phone records? God knows they keep every single phone conversation. And finally while not trying to be racist the caller sounds as if he is from the middle East. Wouldn’t that be a great way to fund ISIS by getting Americans to send them money to support their cause. Think about it???

Gazoo
Guest
Gazoo
8 years ago

We have been getting them all week, I call them back all day and night even when I get up in the middle of the night too pee, just bug the snot out of them, they will stop calling and go away just keep calling them back till they change the number… I did

Eastside
Guest
Eastside
8 years ago
Reply to  Gazoo

What do you say to them?

Kathy key
Guest
Kathy key
7 years ago
Reply to  Gazoo

Me, too, I call them all the time. Yesterday I called them several times while I was doing yard work, the leaf blower adds a particularly annoying touch! Lol!! I irritate the hell outta them and coulda sworn I heard several of them laughing in the background as I said: “hallow? Eees dees Katareen? I am from dee compooder company! Yew hab a pwobwen weeth your compooder !! Are you seeting at your compooder ride now? ”
LOL!! I have the BEST time messing with them. I can only call when they don’t scramble the number they’re calling from.
They call off and on all day just about every day. So annoying !!
My Mom says “Why don’t you just hang up on them?” I tell her, “because it’s FUN!” I tell her!
Lots of times they start talking very vulgar. They make me sick.

Gazoo
Guest
Gazoo
8 years ago

I act all urgent and need to talk to a superviser as I don’t want any trouble, I ask for their name I’d number, their bosses name and the address they are calling from, if they are legit they shouldn’t have a problem answering my questions as they have all my info, right?
Here’s the number they call us at
206-900-9224 it’s disconnected right now but they still call once in a while from it, FPD says to just hang up but that’s no fun, I like to toy with them

YouRock
Guest
8 years ago
Reply to  Gazoo

Hahaha! Love it!

Kathy key
Guest
Kathy key
7 years ago
Reply to  Gazoo

Lol!! Me, too!!!

Momofthree
Guest
Momofthree
8 years ago

When you leave a voice mail saying “the moment you read this message” smh😂😂😂

Duh.
Guest
Duh.
8 years ago

Yep I have also gotten these calls, I question them without receiving any good answers and finally hang up on them, then sit and cross my fingers it wasn’t really the I.R.S and I’m not going to jail. Ugh

MOLA:42
Guest
MOLA:42
8 years ago

Caller I.D.: Great invention. If I don’t know the caller, I don’t answer. They go away since my number is a waste of their time.

I don’t recommend engaging with the caller. Even if you answer and make then squirm, they still profit off of you. They then sell your number to every other scam artist out there, because a valid telephone number answered by real breathing people is a premium in their business.

That’s why you’ll get “robo-calls” where the only message on the answering machine is a few clicks. They dial numbers randomly, looking for YOU.

Eastside
Guest
Eastside
8 years ago
Reply to  MOLA:42

I’m a don’t answer it if you don’t know the number person. I then google the number and usually find it in scam number lists. I then block it on my iPhone. A landline phone is probably a different story, I don’t have one.

Humboldt Haida
Guest
Humboldt Haida
8 years ago

Yea The first clue is the Pigeon English; and terrible Grammar. Second clue is the caller has an accent. That should be more than enough for ANYONE to realize it’s a “Nigerian Scam”.
I had a scam call me months ago; It involved old debt from over 10 years ago. The caller said I had to pay that day with a credit card or they would serve me court papers and the cost would go into the Thousands. Long story short. I googled the “Lawyer”; ( No person in California with that Name had a License to practice ) I googled their “address” ( between a hair dress and a corner store in Anaheim) I demanded they serve me a letter of “Notification” (They not want to do that lol wanted their $$ that day) I phoned them back 6 – 7 times a day for 2 days ( till they blocked me; So I moved to my cell then lol)

Once you know its a scam it’s your CIVIC duty to harass the shit out of them !

LeAnna Carson-Hansen
Guest
LeAnna Carson-Hansen
8 years ago

Two years ago a friend who lives out of state and was elderly got such a call.

He was a Vietnam Veteran, in the beginning stages of dementia and suffered from PTSD.

He was taken in. He indeed had not filed his federal taxes for about six years.

He was so shaken up by the threats of being arrested and losing what little he had, he went out the next morning with his beloved dog and killed himself in the woods he loved via a hose attached to the tail pipe of his truck.

This is serious business when scam artists get away with bulking the ill informed and the elderly.

Post the number 206-900-9224 by your phone and write SCAMMER on the card.

The problem folks have who have caller i.d. is that the call comes up as the IRS.

And….my friend was told the local Police Department were on their way to assist in his arrest.

He got a call a few minutes after the scam IRS call from what appeared to be his local PD.

The supposed officer asked him when he would be home because he needed to serve an arrest warrant for failure to file his income tax returns.

I wonder how many other elders have take the route of suicide in the face of daunting scam calls?

Sasha
Guest
Sasha
7 years ago

I’ve been called at least six times. I called back and told them they were phony and to quit calling me. It didn’t slow them down at all. And why did they even bother with the Government Do Not Call deal?