Unfortunately, telephone scams have become all too prevalent in the U.S. these days.
It seems like every other day we get phone calls telling us our car warranty is about to expire or our credit card company needs a call back so we can consolidate our debt.
Most of us have enough sense to ignore those phone calls, but not everyone.
Some of these phone calls are even threatening, like the IRS phone scam.
Someone calls you saying they are from the IRS and that you need to call back immediately or else you’ll be arrested.
They then convince their victim to divulge personal information so that they can steal their identities.
Financial scams are costing Americans millions.
There were 1.1 million fraud reports in 2017, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
The total amount in losses due to fraud were $905 million, the median loss was $429. That’s an increase of $63 million over what was reported in 2016.
The top three overall reported fraud categories were debt collection, identity theft, and imposter scams. Telephone was the method used in 70 percent of fraud reports.
The median losses were highest in three categories:
- Travel, vacations, and timeshare plans – $1,710
- Mortgage foreclosure relief and debt management – $1,200
- Business and Job Opportunities – $1,063
While many think that the elderly are the most common age group to fall victims to such scams, that’s not the case.
Millennials were actually scammed more than any other age group.
Forty percent of those scammed were aged 20 to 29, while 18 percent were aged 70 or older. Millennials, however, experienced a lower amount of financial loss. The 20 to 29-year-olds lost a median of $400 while those aged 70 and older loss a median of $1,029, more than double.
Well, phone scammers recently called the wrong person and it wasn’t a millennial or a senior citizen.
According to CBS News, Wisconsin Eau Claire Police Officer Kyle Roder recently found one of these messages on his voicemail as he was clearing out his inbox.
So, he decided to call back the scammer and record the entire conversation on video which has now gone viral. He calls the number back asking, “Hello, is this the IRS?”
The man on the other end says “yes” and asks Roder for a case number. Roder tells him he was never given one so the man tells him he could look it up by his address.
From this point on, Roder outsmarts the scammer at every turn.
“But if you said you’re going to issue a warrant for me and come to my house,” Roder explains. “If you don’t have my address how are you going to do that?”
The scammer studders throughout their entire conversation and is obviously reading from a script. He even tells Roder that the IRS gets the local sheriff’s department to execute the arrest warrants, which he obviously knows isn’t true because he’s local law enforcement.
Roder’s facial expressions are hilarious throughout the phone call.
The Eau Claire County Sheriff’s Department decided to post the video in order for people to better understand these scams but they warn you that you should just hang up or not call back when you get these types of phone calls.
You can find more information on this particular IRS scam here.
Even just answering “yes” to any of their answers can allow you to fall victim to their scams.
Scammers can use your “yes” as confirmation to authorize charges of a credit card, phone or utility bill, according to Forbes. You can read more about that here.
The Federal Trade Commision has 10 tips to avoid fraud:
- Know how to spot a scammer
- Do online searches
- Don’t believe your caller ID
- Don’t pay upfront for a promise
- Consider how you pay
- Talk to someone
- Hang up on robocalls
- Be skeptical about free trial offers
- Don’t deposit a check and wire money back
- Sign up for free scam alerts from the FT at ftc.gov/scams
Learn more about avoiding scams here. You can watch Roder scam a scammer in the video below.
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