I think last night they had a feature on scams where one elderly man gave up 400,000 dollars.

My concern is that they cause fear to a lot of people, and even cause some to send 'them' $.

How to stop it isvthe difficult part because you arrest one, three more turn up.

the 'feds,' not sure how or whom, 'caught' them, or some of them, causing them to stop. 'They're' elsewhere, India/Ukraine, etc etc, so it's a job for international enforcers, and considering who is 'running' things here, I suspect international bad guys just take the status quo as a signal to GO right ahead.

Husband got one saying that there was a criminal case against him by the IRS. It's an attempt to scam money. I told him to hangup on those asshats.

A few months ago. I had nothing better to do and I figured the longer I kept them on the line then the less chance of someone else getting scammed.

It was cathartic.

You must keep them on the phone as long as possible- Then right before they sound like they are going to hang up-

LOUD ASS AIR HORN

because it was a scam. I was told there was going to be a lawsuit against me also. They have not called me since.

over 10 times per day. The phone company says there isn't much they can do about these calls, so I decided to just mute the phone-- I don't use it anyway. lol

...then tell them you need them to go through the forms and explain, line by line, where the problems are...

...then tell them you grabbed the wrong tax year and have to go back to the filing cabinet to look for it...

...then tell them...

Tell them how lonely you've been since the wife left. Make slapping noises with your hand against your leg and breathe raggedly through your mouth.

Ask them if they work out and then have them describe their muscles to you in detail. Tell them, "Wait!" I'm putting the clamps on now", but don't provide any details about what you mean. Just groan.

Do all of this without laughing. Just keep telling yourself: it will be funny later.

They will confirm or deny it was them. And probably refer you to the Criminal Investigation Dept to boot. And then do a call block on your phones through the phone company if the call was not legit. If the calls keep coming, contact the FBI. For real!

It's all done in mailings. Trust me if you've ever been self employed you WILL at some point in time deal with them. They NEVER contact you by phone,only through the mail.

The ONLY time you will hear from the IRS over the phone is when YOU have called THEM, and that's only after you've responded to their mailings.

It's sad that people keep falling for this crap. But if it didn't work for the scammers, they wouldn't keep doing it.

But only after they contact you by mail (registered letter) first and advise you they will be calling. And will refer to a specific reference or case number when they do. I know this because I've been called.

In a sense, you are correct. They will not initiate calls out of the blue. You know it's coming!

Wow...I got a call from em..."them" at least 2-3 years ago and left on my answering machine. Gawd...it was so BADLY done I can't believe anyone falls for it but they do or it would have stopped.

They will purposely litter their messages with obvious spelling errors and do other things to look like idiots in order to attract, as quickly as possible, people who truly don't know any better. They don't want to waste their time dealing with people who would immediately be onto them.

Usually I get the automated calls and I do not bother with those, but this time last year I ended up with a live person on the line. This so-called IRS agent claimed I owed $1500 and that I risked arrest if I did not pay immediately over the phone. I was curious where this was headed and decided to play along for a while.

He started asking me for information like my Social Security number and my address.

"You are with the IRS, so you should have all that information already. There is no need for me to give it to you again."

He explained it was for verification purposes and to make sure I was really who I claimed to be.

"I did not claim to be anyone. You are the one who said I owed $1500, so you should know who I am."

He did not like that.

"Ma'am, I have been informed law enforcement is on its way to your house right now."

So I joked, "Did you make sure to give them the correct address?"

"Ma'am, this is a very serious matter! If you do not give me the information right now, they will arrest you!"

Unfazed I replied, "Let's stay on the phone together then and see how long it takes for them to knock on my door. Maybe I could just hand CLICK the check for $1500 to the officer and.. uhm, hello? IRS guy? Are you still there?"

He had hung up

Then ask for their credit card number.

they send 'robo' calls, so all I can do is hang up (which I do,) or return their call on a ## they provide, which I DON't do.