wherein Liz encounters a telephone scam

[edenfalling]

Ahaha, I just got one of those fake-IRS scam phone calls -- you know, the ones with the pre-recorded voice full of ~ominous pauses~ that says something to the effect of, "Hello. We have been trying to reach you. This is your last notice. The reason we have been trying to reach you. Is that the IRS is filing a lawsuit against you," blah blah blah, and then presumably goes on to say that your only hope is to immediately send money by X method to Y account, but I hung up before the robo-voice could reach that point because A) that is not how the IRS does stuff -- they send you physical mail and they always use your actual name, among other things -- and B) I have heard of this scam, and though wildly amused to have someone try it on me, was not feeling quite that indulgent.

This particular scammer's number, incidentally, was 360-780-3810. Is there a procedure for reporting such calls?

...

I am still annoyed that the automatic no-call list for cell phones is no longer a thing.

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ETA: I reported the call to the FTC, since the IRS didn't seem to have a procedure for robo-calls rather than actual humans impersonating IRS agents. It turns out that I did put my phone on the Do Not Call registry all the way back in 2006, but I guess the FTC has been very swamped this year, since I have received more junk calls in 2015 than in all previous years put together. (I am not including charities, etc., since the registry explicitly does not cover them. But like, NJ-based carpet cleaners? That is clearly something that should have been blocked, and wasn't. I think I will make a point of reporting such things from now on.)

Comments

[alexseanchai]

Wait. There really isn't a no-call list for cell phones? It's not just that telemarketers et al don't check the list?

[edenfalling]

I believe it was discontinued earlier this year -- or at any rate, I have noticed a BIG uptick in my own received junk calls. If so, I suspect the reasoning was that since many people no longer have landlines, it was not practical to keep exempting cell phones from such nuisances. (At least, if you want to have fundraising and surveys and telemarketing still exist as industries, to say nothing of political cold-calls, which... well. *sigh*)

[alexseanchai]

Oh. We're talking about different things, I think.

[mme_hardy]

See here: https://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Warns-of-Pervasive-Telephone-Scam

[edenfalling]

Thank you!

[redwolf]

Wacky. A couple of weeks back I was a conference and this idiot managed to me and a co-worker pretty much consecutively using slightly different tactics. The ominous tone is hilarious.

If your do-not-call register works the same as ours, these morons wouldn't be impacted as they likely run from overseas. The use of a local number would get them in trouble, along with the whole crime side of things, but do-not-call only impacts legitimate local businesses. Plus there's the politics and charity loophole that sucks.

One of the scammy work-arounds local businesses try to use is to get offshore call centres to make the calls thinking they don't need to follow do-not-call. If the company offering the service is based in your country, regardless of where the call centre is located, they still have to follow the register. Several have been fined locally for this breach. Robo-calls should be covered by the same rule.

Had a scummy local company who thought the do-not-call register didn't apply to them because they were calling on behalf of a charity. Well, not exactly calling so much as hang-ups (repeatedly) and having a robo-message on the call back number. They are a for-profit company, not a charity, so they have to abide by do-not-call. I traced the number and found the company. They foolishly listed direct numbers for their staff on their web site. I called their scum bucket CEO directly and had a chat. They never called back after that.

[edenfalling]

Hmm...

I did manage to get one set of interconnected NJ charities (fire, police, veterans, etc.) to stop calling me by interrupting a representative with a slightly hysterical/teary rant to the effect that I don't live in New Jersey, I hadn't lived in New Jersey for fifteen years, I'd said so REPEATEDLY to prior calls, and just PLEASE take me off your list and STOP CALLING ME. The rep apologized profusely and I have not heard from any of those organizations since. In retrospect, slightly embarrassing! But eh, I was having a shitty and stressful day for other reasons and regardless of embarrassment, it worked.

[monkey5s]

The fake IRS scam calls that I get usually want you to press a number to talk to a representative now! Because it will be TOO LATE if you don't!! I read about it on a few websites that track telemarketing scams, the people who reported, if they did call the rep, were told to go to a certain place and buy a disposable debit card to load with the hilariously exorbitant amount of back taxes they owed. A couple of people told the rep that they were going to report this number as soon as they hung up. The one rep told the caller that he didn't care, they had hundreds of phone numbers to rotate through. Classy, huh?

[edenfalling]

Oh, just super classy. The classiest. *makes face*

I am a particularly bad target for IRS scams because I am now a (baby) trained tax preparer, and as such I can look at my old tax returns and state with complete confidence that I do not owe any back-taxes whatsoever. But that is not a luxury most people have.

[wistfulmemory.livejournal.com]

I've had a huge increase of junk calls this year, too. :(

[edenfalling]

I find them both frustrating and stressful, because they eat time and spoons I don't have. (I always have to prep to answer my personal phone, you see, and I hate when that mental effort/calibration turns out to have been pointless.)