sounds like a scam to me.

[John Reddie]

I just want to see if anyone here has heard of this. I received a call from # 206-539-5265 (Seattle, WA) stating that I;m being sued by the IRS and am to call that number immediately. Any responses are appreciated.

John R

[1940plymouth]

I called my accountant, they told me it was a scam

[John Reddie]

Thanks Bob. I am not at all surprised.

John R

[austinsailor]

I've gotten 4 calls like that in the last month. Filled out an FBI report, they never called. IRS will not call you. You would have known it was coming from many letters you'd have already gotten.

[knuckleharley]

I just want to see if anyone here has heard of this. I received a call from # 206-539-5265 (Seattle, WA) stating that I;m being sued by the IRS and am to call that number immediately. Any responses are appreciated.

John R

Do NOT call that number and do NOT give out any personal information to ANYONE on the phone. Period.

 

If the IRS wants to get in touch with you,they will send you a registered letter you have to sign for to prove you have been contacted.

 

Don't ask me how I know this.

[desoto1939]

its is a spoof. My next door neighbor is with the FBI and they are aware of this scam.

 

Hartung

[Oldguy48]

It's definitely a scam...our local newspaper ran an article about these bogus phone calls, and I got a call myself.  Just ignore it.  The IRS doesn't work that way.  Too bad these creeps exist, but they're out there.

 

Wayne

[knuckleharley]

It's definitely a scam...our local newspaper ran an article about these bogus phone calls, and I got a call myself.  Just ignore it.  The IRS doesn't work that way.  Too bad these creeps exist, but they're out there.

 

Wayne

The saddest part is the IRS can't be bothered to track down these criminals posing as IRS agents to steal your money,but they will hound you for the rest of  your life to try to collect a few hundred bucks in back taxes.

[Tom Skinner]

Damned Revenuer's 

Send them down here to North Carolina - we can deal with them. L.O.L.

[greg g]

the Irs uses words like review,audit,collect, penalty, interest and fees, demand, garnish,confiscate, freeze, hold.  They don't sue, and unless you have had a notice, a hearing or review, an audit, a finding, an appeal, you have nothing to worry about.  

 

When I got a call a couple months back, I asked the person what his position (clerk, representative, examiner, or agent) was with the IRS, what his supervisors position was, what his  Federal Employee GS number/ paygrade was.  He hung up.

[Dodgeb4ya]

I've got those dumb ass calls too. They don't speak good English.

Just total Idiots.

I hang up before I even hear half of what they have to tell me.

I feel sorry for those who get scammed... mostly older folks I suppose.

[deathbound]

Does this question really need to be addressed? Answer seems pretty obvious.

[Desotodav]

We have the same scam happening here in Oz, but they mention the Australian Tax Office (ATO) rather than the IRS.

[Plymouthy Adams]

IRS calling you at home..this would make it a business call..then your home phone would be a legitimate business expense...

[Captain Neon]

My wife said that we got 4 calls from the "IRS" on 4/15/2016.  However, none of them were to the number I provide the IRS on my 1040.  She knew it was a scam, but it sure ticked her off that they called while the boys were asleep and woke them both up.  Ol' Sanjay is fortunate that my wife couldn't grab him by the throat through the phone receiver.

[Young Ed]

Does this question really need to be addressed? Answer seems pretty obvious.

Sadly the scam must work on some or they wouldn't keep trying it.

[Don Coatney]

Latest scam here in the Fort. Caller claims to be a police detective telling the called that they missed a jury duty appointment and must pay a fine. Now get this, to pay the fine the called is required to purchase a prepaid credit card and send it to a bogus PO box.

[TodFitch]

Sadly the scam must work on some or they wouldn't keep trying it.

 

Sadly, that must be true.

 

Latest scam here in the Fort. Caller claims to be a police detective telling the called that they missed a jury duty appointment and must pay a fine. Now get this, to pay the fine the called is required to purchase a prepaid credit card and send it to a bogus PO box.

 

Seems like sending a copy of the recording you make of the call, or at least the PO Box information they give, to the post office should catch those people pretty quickly.

 

I do like the features that my telephone (Voice Over IP) provider has that allow me to first block numbers easily, second report the call as "spam" and lastly, setup a "call treatment" so that any incoming call that from a number which has been reported as spam by others can be dealt with as I wish. With all that, very few telemarketers actually get to the point where our home phone rings for them.

[John Reddie]

Does this question really need to be addressed? Answer seems pretty obvious.

Apparently some participants here feel that it does. My thanks to all of them who responded positively.

John R

[JerseyHarold]

Another twist on the 'call us back' phone scam is that the number you call is in another country and has very high per-minute rates.  You get a huge bill for the call.

 

The part that bothers me the most is that law enforcement claims that they can't track down the true phone number hidden behind the bogus phone number that appears on your caller ID.  I say that's hogwash.  If a high-ranking politician received a call like this, the perpetrators would be tracked down in a heartbeat.

[TodFitch]

. . . The part that bothers me the most is that law enforcement claims that they can't track down the true phone number hidden behind the bogus phone number that appears on your caller ID.  I say that's hogwash.  If a high-ranking politician received a call like this, the perpetrators would be tracked down in a heartbeat.

 

 

Its been a few years, but I used to be an engineer in a company that made telephony gear. . . They may have changed things around, but the SS7 system really was designed with a closed system mindset where it did not occur to them that security and call source verification was needed. After all, at the time their (Ma Bell's) network was a totally closed system with the entry points only to other phone companies, etc. If you had the ability to hook wires into their system then you'd had gone through a lot of vetting first.

 

So if you can get into the system, which you now can through a lot of VoIP gateways, then you can do a lot without being caught or properly traced. If something is egregious enough to get the FBI involved, then they could probably figure out the gateway the call came in from but that would only be the first step in tracing the perps. I doubt that any local or state police would have the expertise or manpower to do it. And I doubt the FBI wants to or has the budget to try to trace the thousands of nefarious calls that occur everyday.

 

Like I said, it has been a few years and they may/should have improved that aspect of telephone call security. But the world is going to using Internet Protocol for everything and maybe they just figure all that old stuff will be aged out and they can focus on the new.

[dale]

If I get such a call ill just tell them that Im with the CIA...