Scammers Out There Making New Rounds

     I made the mistake of signing up for a Best Buy card because I use a lot of high end cameras and computers and with their membership, you get points to give free merchandise. When we were in CA in June, I earned enough points to purchase a free camera battery. I thought it was a great deal until I started getting calls from Citi Bank a minimum twice a day. I have no idea what that is for because I have no cards from Citi Bank. I finally get tired of this nonsense and return their call. It's Best Buy. I received my current statement on Thursday, but the "customer service" says I'm 11 days behind in payment. What?

     I go through the game they play that I'm mistaken and the bill WAS delivered. Of course, I'm a liar. They never make a mistake. They also say they record all calls, I tell them I also record all my calls. The "escalation" manager said he does not give permission to record his call and I repeat that I do not give consent to record my calls. He blubbers around. I explain in my State, only one person has to give permission to record and I give myself permission. I ask what State he was in and he refused to give it. Why? Because he is in a State that requires both parties consent to record a all or any conversation. Please people, learn the laws in your State. Don't let these scammers take advantage of you.

     I took care of him and his garbage and told them I never want to hear from them again or I'll call our Attorney General and file formal harassment charges. He blubbers again and I let him off the hook and hang up.

     I don't let scammers get me anymore. After the "IRS" called to tell there was a warrant out for my husband's arrest because we sent entirely too much money to our family in other countries. All my family is within 30 minutes drive of me. They called again and my husband was home. He was furious because they had me so upset. I was very ill and the stress was bad for me, so he played with them. He said you had to send me a certified letter about this. The "agent" said it was sent and they knew he threw it in the garbage. Oh really? Yes, they went through our garbage and found it. We have three cats, so I'm wondering how they managed to find anything with the cat litter. He insisted a warrant would be sent to our local sheriff and we would be arrested. Hubby asked which officer would be coming since they were here, he's save them time. The scammers hung up and never called back.

     Another scam is going around and that I want to let you in on. I have been getting calls from a man with an Indian accent asking to talk about my computer. What computer? The one you check your e-mail on. I have 4 computers, a couple laptops, plus a bunch of smartphones. He gets confused. I ask if he's with the scammers that called the day before. He said, "Yes," and I started laughing then. He got very angry. He'll shut my computers down if I don't let him have access to them now. RIGHT! I tell him where he can put his phone and hang up. They haven't called today, but I imagine they will.

     Please people, NEVER sent money to anyone without checking with your local police department. They have all the scams and will save you everything you have.

IRS Scam Warning - Agent David Parker/Barker/Barjer UPDATED August 22, 2014

As you can probably tell from my blog and how it's changed over the years, I have become disabled in far too many ways, so I don't always think as quickly as I use to. You can imagine how it felt when I answer the phone with a Washington D.C. number (202-241-1885) and am told that it's the IRS and there is a federal warrant for the arrest of my husband and myself for miscalculations on our 2006 and 2007 taxes! Plus the government felt that we were sending money to family outside the country to hide assets. We have no family outside the country. We haven't been outside the country in over a decade, except to go to Canada for a couple days vacation last year for our 25th anniversary. My husband traveled the world with the Marines and I visited Paris, France for a week for our first anniversary 25 years ago.

The person on the other end had a thick Middle Eastern accent and claimed that he was Agent David Barjer, and his badge number was #732. Randy was on his way home from work (an hour away) and you know how impossibly unreliable cell service is in this rural area. There are more dead zones than WiFi spots on the drive. I couldn't reach him if my life depended on it.

This man demanded that I go to a store while he was on the phone with me and purchase an EFDBS card in the amount of $1,451 and that an attorney would be at my door to give me the documents and pick up the card. I wasn't thinking because I was completely hysterical at this point. I don't have $1,451! I don't think I could come up with $451 in an hour that he was demanding it in. He claimed he would stay on the line with me the entire time until his associate arrived and the money was transferred. I would also have to show our Drivers' licenses as well as our Passports and our tax returns from those years. I told him it was impossible, I had no money, I was disabled. Then he said that my unemployment and Social Security payments are taxable and I hadn't reported any of that. I tried to tell him I don't receive either of those, but he didn't care. Even though my neck is fused, a nerve in my left leg was cut during the repair of my meniscus and walking more than a few feet at a time is torture, I have constant migraines and the pain is unstoppable. There are other problems, but I don't feel comfortable talking about them in public.

At this point, he demanded my husband's cellphone number and I asked him if he knew where we lived. There was no way he could reach Randy on a cellphone. He said he would call back in an hour and my husband had better be there with the information and money he required. I know now he just wanted more of our personal information. Getting those ID numbers and our Social Security numbers as well as our children's Social Security numbers would give them four people to steal their identification.

I couldn't reach Randy after the man hung up. I was shaking and crying and completely hysterical. I called my 19-year old son Trevor and he came running to help me because I was crying too hard to make any sense. When he got here, he told me to call 9-1-1. I did that and told them what happened and they said it didn't sound right to them. I wasn't to delete the Called ID Number or any other evidence I might have on this crime. The woman said she would have the local police call me or come to my home if I needed them, should anyone show up at my door. I said a phone call would be ok, my son was here and my husband would be home soon and I was safe. Trevor had calmed me down at that point. He got on line and typed in the "agents" name and found a list a mile long that it is a scam.

Randy got home at this point. I was still crying, so he calmed me down and returned the call. He was not amused at the conversation. The "agent" suddenly changed his name to Agent David Parker and there was Agent Richard Parker who answered the call. (They must be fans of the movie The A-Team where the CIA all had the same name) The conversation was not calm because Randy was furious that anyone would treat me the way this "person" did. He's very protective of me. Randy said to this "agent" to begin with, the tax forms were beyond the statute of limitations to even be considered legitimate. Then he never received any paperwork on this. The "agent" claimed that we did get them and Randy tore them up and threw them away. Randy laughed at this and asked how they knew this and if they went through our garbage to find them? The man said they had done this and found the paperwork. I have three cats, so I think it's hysterical to think of this cretin going through our garbage filled with the cat litter to find anything. If you have ever cleaned a cat's litter box, you know what I'm talking about. It wouldn't be pleasant.

At this point, the "agent" started getting angry because Randy had him and he knew it was just a scam. He demanded that Randy "SHUT UP and LISTEN TO WHAT WILL HAPPEN." He said he will be sending a federal warrant to our local police immediately. Randy told him, "I dare you to send it! Do it right now! I have the right to have my case heard in court and our taxes are prepared by H&R Block who will defend us if there was a miscalculation." The man wouldn't stop screaming at Randy didn't understand what will happen to him if he didn't listen. Randy had enough and just told him he would be waiting for this attorney to show up with the paperwork and the warrant to arrive. Our local police know where we lived and we knew them well.

Randy called our police department back and explained what had happened. The officer said that it sounded very much like a scam and to not give them any information or money. He started laughing when Randy told him about going through our garbage to find paperwork. He said there was no warrant for our arrest, but he'd be sure to give us a call if something came through. The officer was very good about this and made sure that I was ok because he knew I wasn't well and he could hear me crying in the background. Even though I had figured out it was a scam by this point, I was still worked up.

This morning as I was packing Randy's lunch and getting his things ready for the day, I was thinking about this. I know that I don't have hundreds of readers (yet), but even if I help one person from being scammed, it's worth it to me. I wanted to write this as a warning to other people.

I know if someone called my elderly mother~in~law and did this to her, she would give them the money immediately because she would be so scared. My son moved in with her last year when he started college to help take care of her and make sure she is safe and nobody can take advantage of her. We all love her very much. I can see any elderly person or a disabled person or even a younger person with less experience with the IRS paying these scam artists. If they call 10 people a day and even 2 pay, that's $3,000! I'm sure they make more than that and there are a roomful of these scammers calling people at random. They could be raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars a month.

If you get a call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and they demand money immediately, DO NOT PAY. DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION. It is a scam. The IRS doesn't call people and extort money from them like this and they do not go through your garbage. They will send you paperwork in the mail that you have to sign for and then they may call you, but they have to treat you with respect and they are not allowed to scream at a person or bully them. You have the right to have your day in court. Our Constitution and our Bill of Rights guarantees this. The IRS phone number is 1~800~829~1040.

If you receive a call from these scammers, please let me know. I want to keep this updated to help stop them.

You are not going to believe this one. Last night the phone rings and it's from SAME WASHINGTON DC NUMBER! Randy answers the phone and the same idiot tells him there is a federal warrant out for his arrest from the IRS for a miscalculation. What was he going to do about it? "I'm going to ignore it and you," he calmly tells them. He's doing his best not to laugh while the guy is clearly sputtering about prison and on and on. He gives them a few more seconds, then hangs up.

These guys are clearly well-organized scammers, but they are dumber than a bag of horse slobber! Wouldn't you write down or somehow keep track of the people you have already called and run your scam on? I can see that idiot "Agent" looking dumb-founded that anyone would talk to an "IRS AGENT" like that! :-} Will let you know when he calls again.