OT Must be scam day

As some know, I am a CPA in private practice when I am not playing in the dirt. Several calls today from people who have been contacted by the "IRS" via telephone saying they found an error on a tax return and were headed over in person to seize assets. Amazing how many people fall for this. One of these people is a college professor and gave them a boatload of personal info before he caught on. Just a heads up...

IRS will not contact you by telephone. IRS will not just drive over and seize assets without due process. Don't talk to these people. Hang up the phone.

Anyone get a call?

Everyday is a scam day Dave.

Dave, I am a retired CPA, and I have had two calls. I talked with the guy and wanted to prove he didn't know beans about taxes OR my tax return. We ended up with me calling him a "scamming scumbag" and him screaming "shutup". I just enjoyed the call. When they call on a phone number that is not on your return, you KNOW they are not with the IRS, plus we know IRS does not call first.

I don't know how you retired. I dread the thought. A lot of these people have been coming here for 25 years or more. Some families have three generations all bringing returns in. I could retire from a financial standpoint, but I look forward to seeing all of them every year. Have a lot of history here...can't stand the thought of walking away.

I have had 4 or 5 of those calls, I usually just lead them on for a while to take up their time, and soon they just start screaming and tell me I am going to jail, I just let them ramble for a few more min, and then tell them to get a real job, and they hang up. Some get really abusive and foul mouthed. I also get calls from an outfit in CA that tries to get me to take some free tools and cutting grinding discs. They get really abusive too when I tell them I am not interested in their scam.

I often tell them I have a pot on the stove and please hang on, I'll be right back. Then I set the receiver down. It keeps them from bothering someone else for a while. Seems fair, they were wasting my time first.

That happened with the wife. She got an e mail from the bank, needing to verify all her information. She gave them every thing but the kitchen sink. She got LifeLock after that. That will protect her information from any hackers I hope. Just as I was typing this I got a call from a scammer wanting to get into my computer to find an infection. Watch out, you could be next. Stan

my wife is a cpa also. drives her nutz when i round numbers, give a ball park figure, or a good guess-tee-mate.

Scammers are everywhere. Last week I received an email from our tax authorities saying I had a little over DKK 7,000 (USD 1,000) tax return. For further info I would just have to poke [color=blue:ae9b11f9b8]here[/color:ae9b11f9b8].
I reported the email as scam and blocked receipt of emails from this sender.

I don't like to play their games. It's because of things like this that we don't answer the phone any more. A while back we got a call from the IRS that they were going to start legal proceedings if we didn't call a certain number. I just found out two neighbors got the same call and actually called back. I guess because they had nothing better to do! I was sort of day dreaming about talking with one of these fraudulent callers and telling them that I was unable to get out, and had only cash, and that they would have to come here. It sounds like your call is getting close to that! Don't these idiots know there are many of us who believe in defending our property, and are well armed?

I got a call today that Caller ID identified as Verizon. A week ago, I filed a complaint against Verizon with the Federal Communications Commission 'cause our bills with Verizon have been totally out of reason for the last 6 months, or so. The FCC responded that they had my directed my complaint to Verizon, and by law Verizon has 30 days to respond. The FCC also said I would probably be contacted by Verizon for info.

So, a call from Verizon wasn't unexpected. Only when I answered, no one was there. I Googled the number and found it's a scam, stating you need to do this or that to get a $28 refund.

Back to our Verizon bills, with just my wife and I being on the 'Net a couple of hours each per day, our last month's Verizon bill was for 18.3 gigs of bandwidth. I compared notes with a buddy of mine who has DSL and he said with he and his wife both being on the 'Net, PLUS two kids absorbed in video games and streaming music, they only use about 18 to 20 gigs per month.

So, something isn't adding up here. From forums on the 'Net, I've learned that Verizon apparently bills according to whether they have competition in an area. Also it seems the FCC has recently been given more power with teeth in it to go after situations like that. Anyway, the FCC has an area of their site dedicated to receiving complaints, and they certainly seemed to take mine seriously. We'll see what happens.

And, a heads up on the Verizon scammers. They even use one of Verizon's phone numbers, 800-922-0204. Something doesn't add up there, either.

I just don't understand peoples obsession with the "phone" call. You would think it was Santa bearing gifts or something. In the first place, you can see on the phone or your TV where it's coming from. If it doesn't look familiar , let the machine answer it. Ain't like you are going to "miss" something or someone. Women seem to be the worse, I guess because they are the more "polite" and trusting ones. My wife has finally learned after 62 yrs that she doesn't "owe" that phone or anyone on it the time of day. There are usually subtle hints in how it comes up on screen that it isn't for us personally or even a customer. If you guess wrong , you can always pick it up while they are recording if it is legitimate. Sheesh.

I was hoping they would call so I could have some fun with them, but they never seem to call me.

I tell them (in my best Norwegian accent) that my uncle Torvald takes care of all of that stuff, but he'd down to the pumphouse right now- I'll yust go get him. . . and lay the phone down.

farmboy watch the place in CA on the "free tools deals. They take your credit card info to pay the "small" shipping charge. The ship you the tools and then bill your credit card for the tools. They got a good friend of mine that way. They have been calling him back for over a year trying to get him to do more with them. He will not hardly answer his phone anymore because of them. Its his cell phone too.

I got a call last week and the caller ID showed Jamaica.
I hung up and blocked the number.

It wasn't easy Dave. I was 73 and thought it was time to be home. My tractors make it a heck of lot easier than I had imagined. You can do it too.

For some reason my MIL gets several calls from scammers a day now. Not the IRS scam yet, but they say she's won a vacation trip or some other thing (we've gotten that one also). She's 80 but alert and smart enough not to fall for it. She did respond to a cold call from an alarm company several years ago, she had been wanting to put a system in since her and the FIL were away in FL for several months a year. She checked them out and they were a legitimate company and she has a good system, but I told her to never, ever respond to something like that again. I told here if she wants to buy something she should shop around and make the first contact. She got lucky that time but the next time it could be a scam or burglars/robbers looking for easy marks.

JD seller, yes I know all about them, googled them after the first call, and there is not one good thing about them with the exception of the satisfied customer posts they put on themselves. I even led him on one time by telling him I would like to be an area dealer for them, he let me talk to supervisor and manager, then I really let them have it. Even the supervisor got really foul and abusive. Friendly bunch....

Due to the scammers and the upcoming presidential election we disconnected the land line, been a lot more peaceful here I'd recommend it to others.