That time of year when scammers call claiming to be IRS...

So, these douchecanoes demon dialed my cell phone with an automated recording claiming to be the IRS saying I have 24 hours to respond or else, and I quote "The local cops will come to arrest you."

You know, the truly sad thing to me about these scams is that they prey upon the mentally disabled and the elderly more than anyone else. They may not be the bottom-most rung of scum on the planet, but they are awfully close, and may even work in concert with organized criminal networks that are at the bottom.

Number to reach them is 727-375-3857. Whatever you do, don't give them any real personal identifiable info if you do decide to contact them. These are bad people.

Do you, like me, have four counts (of something) against you?

These idiots don't even know the procedure used by the IRS because it sure as hell isn't a phone call.

They're still at it, FYI. This BS really needs to stop.

Nah, my record is clean. They don't even know my name or anything, they just expect people to give them information. It's the laziest scam ever.

I get calls for a similar scam a few times a year. Always some Indian guy claiming to be from the police department saying I've been charged with some crime and need to meet with an officer to discuss it. Freaky part is the call comes through as the local police station number.

What gets me is that they always demand to meet in person and not for a money transfer. Wonder what would happen if I were to actually meet them.

Nor do they know my name but somehow, me, a nameless person has four counts of something and the cops" will be called. Damn, I guess I better put it on the top of my to-do list. Unfortunately some old fart will fall for this con job and believe this is how the IRS operates. The computer recording sounded like it was from an 80's Speak and Spell toy.

Legit run the same scam on a Neo-nazi or someone to that effect and set it up where they have to meet each other.

@Shewgenja:

I never got them saying they were cops but one did say that I owed over a thousand dollars to the IRS. It was totally phony though. The voice sounded like Microsoft Sam and it sounded like the voice was reading the mid part of the message.

Never had a scammer calling me before. Guess I just happen to have a clean record or something.

Man, you guys get all the fun calls. I only got one from the Indian guy from "Microsoft" so far...

Also, did the guy really say "the local cops"? Because that's hilarious.

I got scammed once, by some real pros. I'm not even mad about it. Its a bit of a long story but I'm bored so I'll tell it anyways.

I was walking home from the bus, I was around 20 at the time (so 5-6 years ago), and was taking a short-cut through a grocery store parking lot. two guys in a white SUV with a company logo on the side pulled up and jumped out, clearly wanting to talk to me.

They claimed that they were supposed to deliver some speakers to a nearby University (the one I was attending), but due to a mixup with the order had an extra set of speakers they were hoping to sell to make some extra cash on the side. They produced a flyer with the speakers in them, they were from a brand called "Madrid" and had a MSRP of $2500. They said they'd part with them for $500, I said I didn't need any speakers and started walking away.

the guy rushed after me and said something like "we need to get back to the office soon so how much would you be willing to pay for these?" at the time, I believed their story, and figured I could buy the speakers and just sell them on craigslist for a profit, so I suggested $250 and the guy agreed, seemingly reluctant to sell them for that price. The main guy talking to me deserved an oscar for his performance.

after giving the guy the money and taking the speakers home, I did some research and quickly learned these guys were scammers who had been operating all over the west coast and the speakers were probably only worth about $100 at most. They had even set up a fake website for Madrid Audio with the speakers, though it didn't have any company location.

the funny thing is that the speakers ended up working ok, and I still use them! I was just genuinely amazed at how elaborate this scam was. if you google 'Madrid Audio' you'll find lots of scam reports and a few sets of speakers still being sold here and there.

the website seems to have been shut down though.

o hai korvus!

It is I :D

Dude, that sucks but those guys earned that cash...

Think the only time I got "scammed" was one time I felt sorry for this kid who was trying to get people to hear his pitch about credit cards and nobody was giving him the time of day. I was waiting for my niece to get out of school so I thought "this dude is around my age (17-18) and he's trying to do his job so let me hear it...I don't have a job so I can't sign up for a credit card anyway but at least he'll practice his pitch". So I listen to the guy for 15 or so minutes and he thanks me like 10 times during his speech and then asks me to just put my name on a form and mark the "I heard the pitch and it was adequately delivered" box, which I thought was fair enough and it would help the guy out.

Turns out the little shit filled up the rest of the form with fake info and signed me up for a credit card. Obviously I cancelled that shit the very same day but for 3 years I kept getting the occasional phone call to upgrade my credit card, which I never got because I didn't match the criteria to begin with (underage, unemployed, called to cancel anyway, etc etc). No matter how many times I explained the situation and were told they would remove my name from the registry they'd keep calling until I threatened to report them...lesson learned...never sign stuff you're not interested in getting...

They replaced that with "Windows technical support"

yea I wasn't even mad, seemed like more effort than just selling speakers in a normal manner to be honest. I figure I payed $100 for the speakers and $150 for a good story about them

that seems like a pretty elaborate scam for a 17-18 year old to come up with

Well, basically all he had to do was fill up the rest of the form and say that I asked him to fill it for me. It was my stupidity for putting a signature in a document for a product I didn't want just to help somebody out.