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If you don’t take anything else away from this blog, take this: the IRS will never discuss personal tax issues through unsolicited emails, calls, or texts. They will never ask you for money over the phone or email. They are like your grandmother–they only send letters.
For those who have fallen victim to an IRS scammer, you don’t need me to tell you how big of pieces of shit they are. Last month my buddy, who is not dumb or gullible, sent a $7,000 wire to a scammer who alleged there was fraud and misconduct associated with his taxes. My friend would have hung up right then and there, but the scammer was able to list off personal details acquired from God-knows-where (*cough cough* Zuckerberg) and threatened police involvement if not taken care of. Luckily for him, he was able to contact his bank’s wire department and stop the transfer while it was still in pending status. If the money had been send, the best chance he’d have at getting it back would probably be a class-action lawsuit, which may have taken years. Not good, especially for a dude who has a wedding to pay for.
If you think my friend is a sucker, add him to the list of 10,000 others. As CNBC reports, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration claims that “more than 10,000 victims have collectively paid in excess of $54 million as a result of phone scams since October 2013.”
These scammers deserve the worst.
A woman was able to sniff the scammer out before the weasel could enlist his scare tactics. She transcribed the call on Twitter for all of us to rejoice in. Check it out below.
https://twitter.com/twittysuch/status/981193749039538176
https://twitter.com/twittysuch/status/981196039611805696
https://twitter.com/twittysuch/status/981196324186988546
https://twitter.com/twittysuch/status/981197237819604992
https://twitter.com/twittysuch/status/981198005138112512
https://twitter.com/twittysuch/status/981198462619336706
https://twitter.com/twittysuch/status/981199421571395584
https://twitter.com/twittysuch/status/981200510853136385
https://twitter.com/twittysuch/status/981195147231686656
[h/t Some eCards]