Electronics

[novadc]

There's another type of somewhat amusing scammer phone call that I and others here in the DC area have received......I've gotten this type of call twice.

A foreign-sounding caller says he's calling from the "U.S. Government Grants Department" and we are eligible to receive a grant. I just laughed at the first call and hung up.

The second time I picked up this type of call, I decided to give the clown at least a few seconds of clown-behavior right back. Told him he had reached the home of two federal employees (both of us are retired feds)........he sounded incredulous and said "You are a federal employee?" Yes, I assured him. Then I asked him to repeat the name of the agency he allegedly works for. At that point, I told him that there is no such thing as a U.S. Government Grants Department. He immediately hung up.

Can't tell you how many times callers have said we've won an all-expense-paid vacation, a big money prize, a free security system..........of course I'm sure the price of admission for all these goodies would be the release of my credit card number and lots of other information one should never give out over the phone.

On the rare occasion that I answer any unexpected calls these days, I usually tell the scammer to get a real job, because he's embarrassing himself.

[staciesmom]

A guy I work with came home last week to find a recorded message from the "IRS" on his answering machine, it said that if he didn't respond to a certain # they would send the sheriff to arrest him. He left the message on the machine and told his wife there was a message on the answering machine for her. LOL The best part is this guy's brother is a deputy sheriff.

My 87 year old mother gets these kind of calls a lot and they worry her. I always try to reassure her, but people of that generation were taught to obey authority. Because of this type of thing, I hid her checkbook and credit cards in the house, that way she isn't tempted to give out her information.

[2cockers1cat]

Slightly OT. Last week a guy wanted to sell me an extended warranty on my 2010 mini van (There aren't any cars in my name). I just needed to verify the van's Social Security Number (!!) and mileage to get a rate quote. I was gasping with laughter over the SSN comment.

[stevieb]

Yes, it's a scam and has been ongoing for a while... They also have people calling claiming the same thing and demanding money.

[ccassaday]

I got these for a few days. It's sad that seniors are being preyed upon. I am not a senior and new instantly that it was a scam.

[goodstuff]

These "IRS calls" are one of the big scams going around now. I've seen and heard TV and radio features about this scam, and DH and I have received the same calls. It's total rubbish. Ignore the calls.

I got a similar recorded call yesterday from a guy with a strong foreign accent saying he was from the Treasury Department, and if we didn't call him back immediately at the phone number he gave, "prosecution would begin". Yeah, right. Who knows how many gullible people have been fooled by these calls, or what they stepped into if they responded?

And I swear, we've gotten the one from the guy with the Indian accent telling us he's from "Windows Central" and needs to check our computer about twice a week for the past couple of months..... Our local radio/TV consumer expert said they actually want people to give them remote access to and control of their computers! Can you imagine the havoc they could wreak?

[Cats3000]

IT IS A SCAM!!!! DO NOT LET HER ANSWER IT OR DO ANYTHING WITH IT!!!!! I'M SURPRISED THAT YOU'RE ASKING THE QUESTION BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN ALL OVER THE NEWS. THE IRS HAS ISSUED A VARIETY OF NOTICES ABOUT THE SCAM, WITH INFORMATION ABOUT HOW THE IRS REALLY WORKS.

[wildcat fan]

I got the IRS calls too. I reported them on the IRS website where there is a link to report scams, but no one ever followed up with me. It was about a year ago.

[KathyPet]

THE IRS will never, ever call you. Snail mail only.

[redngold]

It's a scam, and apparently a successful one. I've seen the victims of these scams on the news, telling the story of how they were contacted by the "IRS", who demanded money from them right then and there, and directed them to their local bank for a withdraw. Some are told to go to the nearest supermarket to buy and load a gift card, which the victim then reads the numbers from over the phone. Every time these people pause to question it, the scammers threaten to call the police and have them arrested. This was successful on a woman who KNEW she didn't owe any taxes and always paid on time, but she was unnerved enough by the threats to have her arrested that she cooperated. She lost several thousand dollars.