Community Chat

[jackiejenny]

I have an uncle who comes to mind when I read this. He is college educated, was an executive with Meade Paper Company for many years, then he retired.

He was not only educated, but loaded with common sense...sometimes one isn't blessed with both! 

He fell for a scam that 5 years ago he would have seen clearly for what it was. But, age and retirement has bought a form of dementia and his good judgement has suffered. 

It's a cruel fate that happens far too frequently to the elderly and scammers are keenly aware of it. 

[Nataliesgramma]

I am glad they got the scammers....Even though I KNEW the call was a scam...it was unnerving......

[PINKdogWOOD]

@sparklestar  These types of callers put the fear of God into (at least) the elderly that they target.  It's a very sad situation.

My Sister actually heard from one of these IRS hackers.  Of course she knew exactly what was going on and played right into his hand.  She told me she 'begged' him to not send her to jail, she even pretended to cry him a river.  He got so frustrated with her HE HUNG UP ON HER!!!!!  She laughed outloud at what she had done to him - he cried like a baby...

[millieshops]

For those who have loved ones who might be targets -  the Miami 5 are most likely not the only scammers.  From personal experiemce within my own extended family, I can tell you a person can go from 100% capable to a mentally question state faster than you'd think.  Even relatively simple financial tasks become challenging, let alone calls from scammers.  Be aware and wary.

[NickNack]

I got one of those calls.  I didn't answer the phone, and they left a message.  I knew it was a scam and immediately blocked the number from my phone.  There is a college student in town who fell for the scheme.  She sent the money without telling her parents at the time.  I was so surprised that she fell for it.

[kdgn]

It's unfair to call those who fell for this scam as dumb or gullible. The scammers were/are targeting senior citizens. This scam hadn't received the publicity when I received the first call a few years ago. It was a recorded message stating it was from the IRS, etc. At first I was taken aback-while I knew we didn't owe, it was still startling to hear the first sentence. After that I knew it had to be a scam because of the stilted language, poor sentence structure, heavily accented voice. 

But they were determined. Two calls a day, spaced about two hours apart, for a couple of days, then they stopped. I've been getting the calls for the last four years. Each script has been slightly different, different voices on the recorded messages, both men and women. They have come around tax time. 

Not all seniors are computer savy-meaning they've read about this online. Not all seniors take a newspaper subscription. Not all news stations have reported on this, not in the beginning. 

Just hearing that the call is from the IRS strikes fear in many hearts, that's the whole idea behind the scam. The power of the IRS and all that.........

[Suziepeach]

I am very glad they were arrested.  How on earth would they know what targets were elderly/seniors?  Even the head IRS guy in Atlanta said he got one of the calls & he isn't a senior.

[Lipstickdiva]

I'd like to know where it has been stated that these calls targeted the senior citizens.  i've not seen that mentioned at all and I personally don't know one senior citizen who got this phone call but I know plenty of others who did.

I rec'd this phone call at least 3 times and I'm not a senior citizen.  We received the call twice in 1 day.  First they called and spoke to me and then that evening they called back asking for my husband.

I would all but guarantee there are more than 5 people involved in this scam and yes they shut this down but I bet the calls will keep coming.   

[MaRina]

They are very relentless. I got two calls told him in so many words to STOP. This jerk called again the next day at 6am I was livid words came out of my mouth that must have scared him because he never called back 

[karlam]

I just received one of those phone calls last week.  It came in through a local area code.  I didn't answer the phone and of course was left a voice message.  I noticed recently most of our telemarketing calls come in with a local area code or a cell phone number.