14 DAY TRIAL // Phone scams are nothing new, but crooks continue to use bold tactics to reach their money making goal, in one of the more recent cases impersonating an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employee and intimidating the potential victim.
An alert from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) informs that scammers from overseas make direct calls to US citizens and purport to be from the IRS, asking for money in order to avoid bogus legal consequences.
The crooks start by saying that the IRS has charges against the potential victim that could end up costing them thousands of dollars in court fees, as well as lead to their arrest.
The next step is to present the silver lining to the predicament, by informing that the arrest can be avoided and the fees reduced by making a payment through MoneyPak prepaid cards; these feature a code that can be used in multiple parts of the world to make purchases and even to fund digital payment service accounts, such as PayPal.
The crooks create a sense of urgency by telling the call recipient to send them the MoneyPak code in an hour. Victims are also asked to stay on the line until the codes are provided, threatening with arrest if the call is disconnected before the exchange is made.
The FBI advises citizens receiving such calls to remain calm and not act in a hurry, taking time to assess the information; the IRS does not require payments to be made through prepaid cards or wire transfers.