Watch Out for Scam IRS Calls Today and Every Day

First, I wish everyone here in the US a Happy Thanksgiving. And Hanukkah.  I hope you get plenty of latkas and turkey.

Second, I want to warn you that someone is making scam calls pretending to be from the IRS.  The person called me at 7:50 am (EST).  He claimed to be from the IRS, stating there are problems with my taxes.

Now, as it happens, I know there are no problems with my taxes.  I also know that the IRS is not calling anyone at 7:50 am.  And I especially know that the IRS is not calling anyone on Thanksgiving.  How do I know this? Because the IRS, like everyone but certain retail and other establishments, is closed.

I literally laughed when the person said he was from the IRS. I told him to get lost. He called me back. This time, I told him to F-off. He called again. He told me I had better be careful, since he is from the IRS. I laughed again, told him it was clearly a fraudulent call and to go away.  He called me a total of 6 times. Persistent moron, isn’t he?  Anyway, he finally stopped when I said, the IRS is not open on Thanksgiving.  Call again and I am calling the police, since you forgot to block your number.

After about 20 minutes I called back, curious to see what would happen. (I blocked my number.)  The guy answered the phone “IRS how can I help you.” I could hear a lot of people talking in the background, so this is some kind of call center.  He claimed his name is John Carter. Maybe he likes bad movies?

My guess, a good number of people will be getting fake calls from the IRS today.

The person was a heavily accented man, calling from the number 530-377-6497

If you get a call like this, please report it to the Treasury.

For more information, read Kelly Erb’s post on tax scammers trying the same thing during the shut down. Here is a warning from the IRS on the same subject.

I would also like to suggest, it might be fun, to wish the “IRS” Happy Thanksgiving. By calling this fake number. Over and over.  Perhaps it will help cut down the number of IRS scam calls for the day.