My wife and I have received two recorded message type phone calls in the past two days from someone claiming to be from IRS and that I was being investigated unless I called them. The phone number to call was given as 1-352-281-6660 in both cases.
That same number showed up on caller ID as the number of the calling party. If it is so easy to get these phone numbers, why doesn't some federal agency track these shysters down and prosecute them?????
Maybe it's the sheer volume of them. I've gotten some new ones the last couple days. The woman wishes me luck if I don't call her number soon.
Beatrice Bell SE 10 Ave Gainesville Florida 352-281-6660
Yep. Our police have asked people to stop reporting these calls. .. some dumb idiots have actually fallen for this obvious scam ! .. they have gone out and bought " phone cards " and called back to the scammers - with the phone-card code-numbers - thinking that the Canada Revenue / IRS actually works this way .. geeeze. Really ? ! John T.
Maybe or maybe not. Let's also consider that these goofs can spoof caller ID numbers and thus confuse idiots who go on the internet, Google search a number and then post it to these lists which can cause harm to innocent people.
I ran the number through a teleco database that is updated intraday and came up with totally different subscriber information
Just saying!
Small world, I got a similar call.
With the right equipment, caller id can be faked. If you're worried about it, call the IRS number listed on the irs.gov website.
Without caller ID to identify the caller as someone you know or deal with, nobody can answer the phone anymore. Our feckless government is fully aware of this and does squat.
Our laws apply within our borders, but the phone scammers are overseas. Even so, the feds have managed to shut a few of these down. Problem is, it's an endless game of whack-a-mole. Scammer A hires a bunch of people to work the phones, and while doing so, they learn how the scam works. Even if their employer gets shut down, some of them just get into the business themselves and the scam continues - except where it began with one boiler room operation, now there's multiple ones. The "Rachel from Card Services" scam is a known example of that, and the IRS scam is probably doing the same. Once a con artist comes up with a new idea, a bunch more jump on the bandwagon.
This has been a problem for decades, so everyone should know by now that you don't _have_ to answer a call, especially when we have the ability to screen calls and take messages. That's the power each of us has for handling these. If you haven't figured that out by now, the problem isn't just getting unwanted calls, it's your inability to figure out how to ignore them.
I know most are overseas. If I get a live one, I've been telling them lately that I'm sorry but I don't speak to colored people. Sorta hope I make them mad enough to quit or demand more money.
I'm no computer expert but think there are things we could do. Telephone companies could note millions of calls and cut them off. The "microsoft" scammers could take over a computer that infects them with a fatal virus instead of the other way around.
I dunno about USA, but in Hong Kong, the caller ID can be forged. Don't trust it. Call the official phone number listed in your government website instead. Don't just blindly follow a given number.
Per Moe DeLoughan:
It isn't the content of the calls for me... *any* caller has about .7 seconds to show some response and then I hang up... "Hello, this is Pete Cresswell.... HelloHello.... CLICK!".
But the sheer number of rings is a problem - even letting them to go answering machine is a problem when you start getting a half-dozen to a dozen a day.
I've had plain old basic phone service since Day-1 and, cheap as I am, I am about *that* far away from either putting out the big bucks for CallerID/Simultaneous ring or putting my incoming calls on the VOIP service I use for outgoing.
The first option would give me access to apps that crowd-source junk call identification.
The second one would let me implement Challenge/Response: "Hello, this is the Cresswell's answering machine. "Press 1 for Joe, Press 2 for Sue..." and so-forth - along with a GoldList of known callers that do not get the prompt. The downsides of the second are uncertainty about how 911 calls would work and family members who do not like change.
Per Frank:
My gut reaction is that, somehow, the phone companies benefit from those calls. For sure, the cell phone carriers do because they are burning minutes for those on minute-limited plans. For land line carriers, I would think that those calls serve a marketing purpose: selling people like me on paying extra for CallerID/Simultaneous ring.
Per Mr. Man-wai Chang:
True in the USA too. On my VOIP service, I have the CallerID spoofed on my cell phone to the cell phone's number when I am using Bria to call via VOIP instead of tMobile.
this is a job the NSA should handle
at least we would get some benefit for all the money they get
m
We should let Whitey Bulger out on the condition he solve the problem
You don't have much credibility when you can't even spell my name correctly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can't tell whom you mean if you can't quote some context in the thread. I asked about that before. I was responding to nutcase Burke
Actually, you were replying to yourself.
... thus diminishing your own credibility ..
That's the way I feel about it. Last I heard the Feds were telling the telephone companies to help otherwise they would step in. Does not make any sense since Feds should have been working with them.
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