Oct 29, 2014
I received a call on my Google Voice number today (which rings thru to my cell phone, where I picked up), and someone who claims to be an agent at the IRS, and stated that I have three outstanding 'complaints' against me (huh?) and an arrest warrant has been issued by the IRS for me. So, I played along to see how this interesting story was going to unfold... and he asked if I would like to resolve this today, so I do not go to jail (in the next 45 minutes, since the police would be at my home then). When I indicated, yes, I did want to resolve this, he passed me over someone named Agent Jack (and I missed the last name), who reiterated all of this. He said that I had willfully not paid some taxes in 2012, and owed some amount over $3,000 (could not remember the exact number), but if I agreed to take care of this right now, I would not be arrested. So, I blew it here, and laughed. So, after he admonished me and told me that this is a very serious matter (yes, it is, to the scammers revenue targets for the day), I basically harassed him by asking what country he is in, and that his accent was rather difficult to understand, and that their story was rather funny. He yelled that I will be arrested and hung up.
I checked, and the number which was displayed is actually a legit phone number to the Los Angeles Sheriff's office, although the Caller ID only had the telephone number and not a name. Am a bit amazed that most people fall for this scam, since the thick accents, lack of information, and having less than an hour before being arrested to handle a financial matter sounds like more of a loan shark rather than the IRS.