Jul 20, 2016
Got the call as above, knew it was a total scam, but figured I would play along so that 1) if I tied up these jerks long enough it world prevent them from preying on vulnerable targets, at least for a few minutes and 2) it is the only way to get them stop calling me ( at least from the same spoofed number). Was able to tie them up by asking questions such as how come I didn't receive a note, why they thought that "making a calculation error" on my taxes was a criminal action, who the letters were actually addressed to --I of course gave a fictitious name--" "Frederick G Sanford"--and when asked to spell it, I did so as the character on the TV show--"S-a-n-f-o-r-d, period. " I thought that that would give away that I was playing with them, but they kept transferring me up the food chain. Finally, the fourth crook I spoke with told me to drive to an Apple store. I said--I don't like apples, why would I want to go to a store that sells them. He said, no. no, Apple, like the computer. I said , no I don't need a new computer. I have a PC. Finally, I started to yell and whistle into the phone before hanging up. I know it isn't much, but it caused even a small disruption to them, maybe they were able to reach a few less victims.
Not sure how else to stop them--I feel bad for the innocents that get taken by this, the Jamaican Lottery scam, the "I am calling to fix your windows computer" scam, the "you have won a car or $25,000" scam, etc.