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Oct 11, 2014
I received a voice mail in Chinese accent from 202 241 7208. I called the guy back. His accent changed, he alleged tax evasion and fines, threatened arrest by six police officers within 45 minutes if I did not pay. I also heard background talk, which I will share with you. But first, I am 67 year old, now retired after having served in seven U.S. embassies around the world. The last two were in Pakistan and Emirates. In Emirates, we were in the Embassies District of Abu Dhabi.
Back to the call.
1. The background chat was in Urdu and Arabic, suggesting at least some of the gang members are Muslims. Scamming, faking and cheating is very very common in Pakistan and Middle East culture, but not every Muslim is a bad person.
2. The accent was Pakistani (it is similar to Indian, with some differences in how they pronounce "d", "t", "th" and "o"). But Pakistanis are all over the Middle East now, and there are more Pakistani-origin people in United Kingdom than Indians, a fact from the colonial times. Pakistanis are also in Greece and parts of Europe. So the callers could have been calling from anywhere.
3. It is a scam. IRS never calls. It follows a due process. Don't fall for this scam.
4. Get a call blocker. We got one from Panasonic through Amazon and it blocks 250 numbers. You will still get new numbers - but you can thereafter block it. Panasonic makes a model that keeps first ring silent before checking and blocking it, so scam calls do not even ring.
5. Report the scam. Use the link provided by RexIRS above. http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml
In my call, I asked my Pakistani tormentor to send to the police officers. I have donuts ready for them.
Back to the call.
1. The background chat was in Urdu and Arabic, suggesting at least some of the gang members are Muslims. Scamming, faking and cheating is very very common in Pakistan and Middle East culture, but not every Muslim is a bad person.
2. The accent was Pakistani (it is similar to Indian, with some differences in how they pronounce "d", "t", "th" and "o"). But Pakistanis are all over the Middle East now, and there are more Pakistani-origin people in United Kingdom than Indians, a fact from the colonial times. Pakistanis are also in Greece and parts of Europe. So the callers could have been calling from anywhere.
3. It is a scam. IRS never calls. It follows a due process. Don't fall for this scam.
4. Get a call blocker. We got one from Panasonic through Amazon and it blocks 250 numbers. You will still get new numbers - but you can thereafter block it. Panasonic makes a model that keeps first ring silent before checking and blocking it, so scam calls do not even ring.
5. Report the scam. Use the link provided by RexIRS above. http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/contact_report_scam.shtml
In my call, I asked my Pakistani tormentor to send to the police officers. I have donuts ready for them.