Tell them to come on over and introduce themselves.

Yes we are on the wanted list too! I got the call. What is sad is that some people will fall for it unfortunately. There's a big warning about it on the IRS website.

I just wish they would send our refund for last year. Still processing.....Grrrrrr.

They called me and said they had a warrant for my arrest unless I paid them $5,000. 8-)

Oh, I thought that you were being audited too :-) It's no fun, but good to get it behind us! Yeah, they didn't call, good old snail mail!

There are times when my hearing issues are a plus. I rarely answer the phone unless they are programmed into my phone and I see who they are, so I haven't had the aggravation of dealing with faux IRS callers.

And I hang up right away, so I don't even know if they've called me.

Yes, they called us twice also in I think one day. They just left messages as I was not home, :) It has been a few weeks ago.

Sue

I haven't had the IRS ones in a while. I always tell the Microsoft people that I don't have a computer - they kind of stutter after that.

I try to get these solicitors before DH picks up the phone. He gets so 'creative'. My favorite is when someone called selling extended warranties on our washer and dryer. I only heard his side of the conversation as he strung this gal along. He told her our appliances had been stolen the day before. He said he was just filling out the police report when she interrupted him. And...we had a week's worth of wash to do! (She said 'sorry' and hung up.)

Love it, Chisue. I still laugh out loud over that recording of Tom whatever who plays with junk phone callers like your DH does. He claims to be investigating a murder and how does the caller know the victim? Don't hang up, because now you are involved in this murder and a suspect, and he goes on and on.

If I answer the phone and no one responds immediately, I hang up. So I have missed out on many of these calls.

sheilajoyce, I do the same thing. I count two or three beats and if no one says anything I hang up.

I just hang up!! Most are recordings anyway.

My son-in-law has a standard answer "Please wait until I get my wife-she takes care of things like that." And then he just leaves the phone off the hook.

I finally got caller ID. Why did I wait so long? There are two energy companies, Constellation and Direct Energy, that call me at least once a day, if not TWICE a day, every day of the week - including one call I got on a Sunday! It all started when I switched my energy server from AEP's to another, which has been nearly two years ago now (just recently switched back to AEP).

Before caller ID, I'd run from where I was in the house or even outside because of my Mom who might need help. I said all kinds of things to those energy companies, both nicely and downright mean - nothing phases them. I also would "play" around with them, disguising my voice, making up scenarios. My favorite was when they ask where (my name) was, I'd say, "She's in China!". Except once, the caller drilled me on when "she" would be back, what month, should he/she call back then? Omg.

I got a Digitone call blocker. There are several brands of call blockers on the market. You have to have caller ID. Mine still rings one time, but then it stops, so I know I don't have to run for the phone. And new scammers call, but they never get to call more than the first time!

schoolhouse... If ESCO's persist in calling you, you can get the name of the company and report them to your state's Public Service Commission, or whatever agency your state has for utilities. I get calls from ESCO's where they try to suggest that they are from my local utility. I turn them in when they pull that.

I get calls from debt collectors for a stranger who has the same (common) last name as ours. And they are from various different agencies, so somehow our address and phone got associated with this file in some kind of debt collector database. I know the person didn't use our number, because the first time it happened I called the local community college and checked the info they provided the debt agency, and it wasn't ours. The collectors are perfectly polite and stop calling when I explain their error, unlike regular telemarketers, but if the debt is sold or the person incurs a new debt, we get another agency calling us. If they'd just look at whitepages.com, they'd see that there is no one by that name at our number or address. Based on my google search for this problem, it is more common than you might think. And annoying!

Ginny, I had something similar happen, but it was someone with a different name, who, I think, had the same number in a different area code or something. Every so often there would be a bunch of those calls for him--and usually in Spanish. I'd pretend I don't understand Spanish and speak loudly, "DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?" They'd hang up. The last though was an English message on my machine from a lawyer. I called them and left a message in return that that person never had been, we'd been here X long, etc. That was the last (touch wood and tell the fairies) that I've heard from him. Is there any way you can get to the lawyers who are after yours?

I know someone who got the IRS one and started paying them. :( I told her it didn't sound right and I looked up the IRS contact numbers for her so she could check with them. And it wasn't. At least it was resolved before she lost too much. Sigh.

When the Microsoft one called me, I was still in bed. He said I had a virus. I said that there was no way he could possibly know that. Then I said, again loudly, that it was a scam and that I was calling the district attorney. That got rid of him. And I did tell. :)

We got that IRS scam call too a while back. I can't believe that people fall for those scams. That is very scary to think that someone would actually be paying them. Don't they know if they'd paid their taxes or not? The IRS will never call and harass anyone.

After reading these I'm so happy when we moved here 12 years ago and found that our number had never been used before (they had just added a new prefix) that we decided to make it private unlisted. Just $3.00 a month an so worth it. There's even a message, before it will ring through, telling the caller that this number does not except solicitations or blocked numbers. They do have a choice to unblock their number and ring through. Family and close friends know our cell number so they usually call us there anyway. We have to have the land line because of DSL , but it's also good to have in case of cell interruption.

We also got 2 calls in the same day. Its been about a month ago. I listened to see what they were going to say and then hung up the phone. I went straight to the IRS site on the computer and they said they would mail anything that we needed and not phone. It is a scam. Feeling bad for anyone who believes this stuff. They sounded foreign to me. I had been warned from the home forum so I knew what this was about.

Arkansas_girl, the woman who fell for it is foreign born and not very worldly or well educated. If there weren't people like her, they wouldn't bother and would just dry up and blow away.

Not related to the irs call but years ago my elderly aunt in her 90's received a notice that she had won a beautiful vase so she sent money for it for mailing. It was a nominal fee but when the beautiful vase arrived it was about an inch in size and she was horrified by the size She put that vase on her what not shelf where she would be reminded every time she saw it how silly she felt. My sister now has that little vase. It has turned into a family keepsake for our family. We did laugh about it. She lived in Florida and had no children and was a widow. Sadly her nieces lived elsewhere. Just a reminder that scams come in all ways.

I just got home from our RV trip to Oklahoma for mother in laws 93rd birthday party and guess what was on my answering machine! The IRS scam recording LOL Them and CVS telling me my meds are ready. So interesting to come home to.

Thanks for that info ginny.

I've heard that a person can actually sue companies that call you repeatedly, but also that you need to be on the "Do Not Call List" first. Afterwards, if they still call you, you report them and may be able to get a $500 settlement. I don't remember if I read this or heard it on TV. I wonder if anyone has successfully got settlement or perhaps THAT'S a scam too. The cost of the lawyer fees, etc. probably would add up to more than that. lol

I'm so sleepy, I actually thought they were really coming and you were brushing it off. HA! I'm S L O W today.

schoolhouse_gw, some of what you say is accurate. Yes you can sue them, no you do not have to be on the DNC list (but why wouldn't someone be on it is my feeling), and supposedly there are people who have sued successfully. Now whether they collected or not IDK. And you don't need a lawyer to do it. Generally you sue in small claims court, my recollection is the sum is $5k per incident. You have to have a record of when they called, when you told them to put you on their DNC list and when they called again, etc. It's simply documentation you'd need for a normal court case. Mostly common sense.

But come on people, don't you have compassion? Remember how upset some were when this has been brought up before? Who can't shed a tear of compassion over their arguments: They're just trying to feed their children! Just trying to earn a living! Not taking up much of your time! etc, etc, etc.

I think I'm going to modify my PhoneTrayFree message. Instead of the "number has been disconnected" recording, I'll record the results of the colonoscopy prep, toilet flushing, and other great sounds for them to enjoy. Perhaps with Neil Diamond playing in the background (What A) Beautiful Noise. Got a beautiful sound for them. Got a beautiful beat.

I too, could not believe that anyone would fall for this scam. However, a coworker did and she is a medical doctor with a MIT degree as well. These scammers are really slick.

Well I don't get fake IRS calls. But tonight my cell rang with what looked to be a local number but under the number it said Romania. So I guess the Romanian mob is after me. And here I thought all my problems were in the US. ;-)

I never answer the phone. If I don't recognize you immediately or am not expecting a call from you, I don't answer. That's what voicemail is for. No message, no call back. Same with the landline. Answering machine gets it all.

That's my policy too, except I don't return any solicitor VMs. Those are eaten by the delete button.

Yep, all solicitors and robocalls. Don't even listen to the message. You can tell by the first three words usually.

Not IRS related but a couple of year ago our phones all rang at the same time even the cells. When we would answer they would ask for so and so and we said no one by that name lives here. These calls kept coming multiple times a day everyday week in and week out. They always asked for the same person. My husband finally got so sick of this he asked one person that he wanted to talk to his supervisor. That we would sue if it didn't stop. Finally took our number off the list. We had had it for 25 years. Suing was the only way we could get off the list. The name was not even close to ours. You have to keep vigilant.

And the National Do Not Call Registry is a joke. I've registered and re-registered and the calls keep coming.

Between number spoofing and calling from out of USA, it's almost impossible for the government to enforce the DNC registry. I think the telecoms should do something about it.

I do file a lot of complaints with the DNC. Sheer volume of complaints will eventually make someone address the issue in some way.

I also got this phone call a couple weeks ago saying there was a warrent for my arrest and they hoped to hear from me to resolve this before that happend. I hung up. It wasn't a human on the line but robo call

I also got that Microsoft call a while back when I was half alseep, told me I had a virus on my PC , my wife answered and handed it to me, I listened for a minute then told him not falling for his scam

Ugh. My daughter fell for that one. It was actually a human being and gave very convincing details. She's still kicking herself.

I got one of those calls too!

Hopefully you didn't fall for it. I'd never heard of such a scam until I googled it and found it's quite common. The police were very disinterested when she filed a report.

Cynic, I love the idea of playing sounds of colonoscopy prep. I tried to get my parents to let dh and I set up an audio recording of toilet/bathroom noises to play for the ton of calls they get, but my mom would not let us. I figured why not have some fun with it? :)

The best way to foil phone scammers is not to answer the phone if you don't recognize the name of the caller or number. Usually, a legitimate caller will leave a message and you can chose to call them back.

"told me I had a virus on my PC"

Tell them there is no cure for those sorts of viral infections and anyway, you don't have health insurance. But that you will spray the keyboard with Lysol. If they persist tell them that you will look into it if they send you enough money for a doctor visit.

OP here. I do have empathy for some of the people who make these calls. I used to do it back in the 60's. Selling magazines for "only the cost of the postage". I only lasted 6 weeks, once I figured out it was more expensive that way. I was too honest I guess. But it is a pay check for some.

Lucille love your response.

Or a pay-off.