The IRS is Calling Me - Or, is It Just Some Guy in India?
Thousands have sent money to the “IRS” without realizing they just became the latest victim of an India-based scam.
Scammer: Hello ma’am, this is the IRS. Please call me back immediately regarding your tax evasion or tax fraud case totaling over $10,000.
Woman: Hello, I just received my message from the IRS. I can pay $1,000 now but need to set up a payment plan for the rest.
Scammer: We expect $1,000 today or else we’ll need to get our lawyers involved. You don’t want that, do you?
Woman: No, absolutely not.
Scammer: Good, get me the money today.
And just like that, you can get scammed by a call center in India pretending to be a tax agent.
Sure, you might think you’re smart enough to evade this dim scam, but ringleaders claim to have made over $155,000 a day - or 10 million rupees back home - from this deception!
Why are so many of us falling for scams like this? Why do we think the IRS would ever instruct us to buy iTunes gift cards to recoup our tax debts?
Why would we ever listen to a man named "Jane" or a woman named "Greg" claiming to be a federal agent?
It’s because scams can happen to anyone at any time.
Hopefully the issue won't last much longer as authorities recently arrested alleged ringleader, 24-year-old Sagar Thakkar. Since the scam became popular, over 15,000 people have been scammed by the operation.
Remember to always be skeptical. All it takes is one dumb moment and you could be a scammer’s next victim.
