Fake Call Centers in India Scam Americans Of Millions (ap.org)

An anonymous reader writes:Indian police have arrested 70 people and are questioning hundreds more after uncovering a massive scam to cheat thousands of Americans out of millions of dollars by posing as U.S. tax authorities and demanding unpaid taxes, a police officer said Thursday. According to police in Mumbai, the yearlong scam involved running fake call centers which sent voice mail messages telling U.S. nationals to call back because they owed back taxes. Those who called back and believed the threats would fork out thousands of dollars to "settle" their case, Mumbai police officer Parag Marere said Thursday. The scam brought in more than $150,000 a day, Marere said without giving a total sum. If the scam netted that amount daily, it would have made almost $55 million in one year. Some victims were also told to buy gift vouchers from various companies, and hand over the voucher ID numbers which the impostors then used to make purchases, Marere said. Police said they are likely to file charges against many of the 600 or more people still being questioned on suspicion of running the fake call centers, housed on several stories of a Mumbai office building.

Comments

These guys called me last week.

[pteddy]

It showed up as an upstate New York phone number. In a thick Indian accent, "This is agent Steve Smith with IRS". I played along just to see how it went and they were trying to get me to go to Walmart and buy two pre-paid iTunes gift cards for $490 each and then tell them the numbers on each card. This was supposedly to pay my IRS debt. How does anyone fall for this? Later I amused myself by calling them back and then doing a three way call and calling the number again and listening to the two scammers try and figure out what each other was talking about.

Re:These guys called me last week.

[Applehu Akbar]

I get these calls alll the time too. Most people may not know that the IRS always uses mail for communications, but nobody should believe that the government would have you transfer funds using a money laundering service like Green Dot. In my state, Green Dot is used only for meth deals or for paying ransoms.

Re:These guys called me last week.

[pr0fessor]

I got one of those calls also... I told them I already knew they weren't with the irs and asked them if they did the microsoft techsupport scam also.

Re:These guys called me last week.

[Megane]

In my experience, they usually call with a voice synthesizer. Yours must have been the ones too cheap to pay for something to cover their accent.

Re:These guys called me last week.

[Opportunist]

Yes. Yes. And your computer has virus, too!

Re: These guys called me last week.

[Anonymous Coward]

Ha! They called me last year. The caller, John Smith (yes, really) had an obvious Indian accent. I told him that Kali was going to eat his children.

He hung up and never called back.

Re:These guys called me last week.

[tlhIngan]

I got a bunch of them for about a week straight a few months ago. One time they called me and left a message saying they were from the IRS and I owed money and there was a warrant out for my arrest. They then called me back 10 minutes later stating they were from the Canadian IRS.....really can't believe people fall for this stuff.

Nevermind the publicity. It's been plastered all over the TV about the tax agency scams (in Canada, it's the Canada Revenue Agency, or CRA that collects taxes), including interviews with victims and showing the dozens of iTunes cards they buy.

The police continually reiterate it's a scam, the tax agnecy says to give them a call if you're ever unsure (and they do not have the power to just arrest you, especially on small amounts). And that the only form of payment acceptable is money - they do not accept gift cards, stamps, or anything else.

Yet people still fall for it, I wonder what they think about buying dozens of iTunes cards for payment - do they think they have an arrangement with Apple to convert them back to cash?

Re:These guys called me last week.

[Martin S.]

They are actually using VOIP with a PSTN breakout services to get a local or national number.

Re:These guys called me last week.

[david_thornley]

Don't knock them. When was the last time you heard about terrorists shooting up a hockey game? Those Canadians take their hockey seriously.

Re:These guys called me last week.

[khallow]

When was the last time you heard about terrorists shooting up a hockey game?

All the time. The terrorists get on the ice and brutalize everyone in sight with these funny shaped sticks. I believe the FBI has issued a warning.

Re:These guys called me last week.

[nukenerd]

They stopped calling me after I told them to kiss my ass.

That is just a co-incidence; it would not stop them. In any case it is not always the same person or outfit calling you : there is more than one of them, you know.

Just the fake ones?

[houghi]

I thought the real ones are much worse. Fake ones only take savings, The real ones take your income.

The scam fell apart.....

[tekrat]

When they tried to call Donald Trump to demand back taxes and he told them to fuck off.....

Re:Which is the bigger crime?

[pteddy]

Are you able to crowbar a anti-government screed in to every story? That's a pretty neat party trick.

Let's teach critical thinking

[null etc.]

It's a sad indictment of American intelligence that we have citizens who actually believe the government wants to be paid in iTunes gift cards.

Re:Let's teach critical thinking

[T.E.D.]

For me, yes falling for that would be unconscionably stupid. For an elderly person, who only has a land-line and grew up when mail and checks were the only ways to pay for things? Who doesn't even grok what an "iTunes" gift card is, and has never had a need to figure that out? I could see them thinking this must be yet another newfangled way the IRS expects payment.

Let's not succumb to the temptation to blame the victims.

Re:Let's teach critical thinking

[Anonymous Coward]

For me, yes falling for that would be unconscionably stupid. For an elderly person, who only has a land-line and grew up when mail and checks were the only ways to pay for things? Who doesn't even grok what an "iTunes" gift card is, and has never had a need to figure that out? I could see them thinking this must be yet another newfangled way the IRS expects payment.

Let's not succumb to the temptation to blame the victims.

I'm sorry, but anyone who's been alive long enough to pay taxes for decades to the IRS knows damn well they are are component of the US Government, who hardly dabbles in the "newfangled" or even moves fast enough to keep up with it.

There are two teachers in life; wisdom and experience. Insulating society from the latter comes at a price for the rest of us.

Re:Let's teach critical thinking

[Cro Magnon]

OTOH, how would someone who had barely even heard of "gift cards" pay a bill with one? Their very ignorance could save them from getting fleeced.

Re:Let's teach critical thinking

[Anonymous Coward]

I doubt it is just the elderly. There is a reason America was targeted after all.

Re:Let's teach critical thinking

[Copid]

That works as long as you're one of the lucky seniors who remains sharp as a tack until your last dying breath. For most, there's a window when they're still in charge of their own finances but have moments when they're easily confused and forgetful. My grandmother is in her 90s and spent most of her life being one of the smartest people in any given room and was plenty cynical and suspicious about scams and criminals, but she's now reaching a point where she has days when she has no idea what bills she's paid or how many times she's paid the same one. Those are the types of people most scammers are looking for.

If you're in your 40s and you fall for this sort of scam, I don't know what to say. Your life savings was probably going to end up going to a megachurch or pyramid scheme at some point anyway. But most of us are going to end up losing our ability to handle this type of thing eventually, so it's best if we put some effort in to stopping this kind of shit.

Re:Let's teach critical thinking

[nukenerd]

For an elderly person, who only has a land-line and grew up when mail and checks were the only ways to pay for things? Who doesn't even grok what an "iTunes" gift card is, and has never had a need to figure that out? I could see them thinking this must be yet another newfangled way the IRS expects payment.

No, an elderly person who does not grok what an iTunes gift card is will not even know how to buy one. It is hard enough to get elderly people to pay by credit cards, let alone by anything newer. It is younger people who might regard iTune cards as currency, especially as cash is falling out of fashion among bright young things.

Re:Which is the bigger crime?

[Jason Levine]

I think the bigger problem is a lack of critical thinking skills. If "the IRS" called me up and said I owed thousands of dollars in taxes, the first thing I'd do would be to call my accountant or to call the IRS directly (using a number from their website, not given to me from the caller) to double-check this. Even if I didn't think to double-check it right away, a demand that I pay my tax bill by purchasing gift cards to various stores and giving them the numbers would raise a ton of red flags. What does the IRS need with iTunes cards?

Too many people hear a pitch over the phone or via e-mail and just go along with it because it doesn't even occur with them to think about the request being made.

Ah... the good ole days

[coolmoe2]

When they only took your job not your grandmas savings.

I guess there's one born every minute

[gnick]

I'm astonished to learn that there are actually people out there that accept that trading gift cards is a viable method for taking care of back taxes. This is less convincing than a Nigerian prince needing payment so that he can collect money for you.

My faith in humanity continues to wither.

Article is about the wrong thing.

[ScentCone]

This says more about our insane tax code and US citizens' absolute, paralyzing fear of the IRS and its capricious life-wrecking ways than it does about the fact that there are such things as con men taking advantage of it.

Re:Cell phone scam

[cyberchondriac]

Me too! I always use my cell phone for everything, including Internet; I even have the slashdot app. But obvious scam is obvious, I wasn't about to fall for th

Re: Indians are immoral

[plopez]

Where are you getting 47% from?

Re:Which is the bigger crime?

[ColdWetDog]

Oh stop it. I've dealt with the IRS on numerous occasions. They have inevitably been polite, professional and they at least attempt to be helpful. Yes, they're the IRS. Yes, it's the Evil Big Guberment. But how the hell are you supposed to run a civilization without taxes and how are you supposed to collect taxes without something like the IRS?

Don't rush the answer. Think this through carefully. Please do NOT pick up that copy of 'Atlas Shrugged'.

Re: Indians are immoral

[KozmoStevnNaut]

His ass, obviously.

our money grubbing telcos

[rubycodez]

This type scam has been going on for almost a year now, not all the scammers use the gift card route, some have used checks and cc numbers

These indian scammers buy blocks of cell phone numbers from U.S. telecom companies, then buy another block when they're reported/investigated in the USA. We need laws to bring the hammer down on the U.S. companies that have been all too willing to continually resupply these scum with the cell numbers. Make them responsible for restitution of the victims.

Re:Rewarding ignorance.

[PCM2]

I really don't know who I want to punish for this; those who capitalize on stupidity and ignorance, or those creating such a market.

I do.

The word "con" is short for "confidence racket." It relies on you building confidence in your mark and then exploiting them. You exploit them by preying upon their own greed. Nigerian prince email scams are classic cons. They promise you something for nothing and you get suckered when you believe them ... and you believe them because you're not just stupid, but you're also greedy and corrupt. That's the origin of the phrase, "You can't con an honest man." An honest man would recognize that someone, somewhere is getting screwed and wouldn't play along. A dishonest man hears the implausible story, knows someone is getting screwed, but his greed gets the better of him and he plays along, and gets suckered. No sympathy for him.

This is different. From what I've heard so far, these people aren't being conned. They are merely stupid. And even that might be uncharitable. For some people at the lower end of the socio-economic spectrum, the devastating consequences of getting on the wrong side of the government, the banks, the financial system etc. might be so terrifying that they'll comply with any request, rather than risk losing their home, seeing their family broken up, their children sent into foster care, etc. "Just pay this nominal sum that's within reach, or else we'll make sure you lose everything you have." That's not a con, that just pure evil, preying upon the weak. Yes, they deserve to die, and I hope they burn in Hell.

Re:Many /.ers think it's ok to steal from me

[jlv]

I used to make tons of money, but then my company switched from paying me with rolls of pennies to checks.

Re:Which is the bigger crime?

[Greyfox]

So what you're saying is that when you launch your tax fraud call center you should launch a BGP attack to remap the irs.gov web servers to a website of your own design? Good to know!

Re:Which is the bigger crime?

[mlts]

That has been my experience. I've felt like the IRS people I dealt with (when I had to deal with a case of ID theft, thanks to a previous job that viewed security as having no ROI, thus all my info became pretty much public) bent over backwards in order to find me records I needed.

Call me crazy, but taxes are the price one pays for civilization. I'd rather hand over some cash than have to man my own gun turrets, or pay a meter so I can use a park bench. Yes, I might pay taxes for a road that I may not used everyday, but someone is paying taxes for a road they don't use everyday that I drive on as well.

Re: Indians are immoral

[Hognoxious]

Best I can tell, they basically measure your interest and commitment to school subjects.

Maybe that's why you score so low. If it's asking you what year the war of 1812 started or what religion the pope is it's not an IQ test, it's a general knowledge quiz.

Re: Indians are immoral

[uncqual]

According to IRS figures, about 47% of the Federal income tax returns (it varies by year -- I think the 47% number is a bit old) show no tax liability and some of these result in "negative" tax because of being eligible for refundable tax credits.

Of course, some people don't even file a return because they don't have any traceable income that requires them to (and either are not eligible for a refundable credit or don't know they are). On the other hand, some returns reflect two people who are married and filing jointly. So the number of "returns filed" is not the same as the number of "people".

This does not include, of course, state and local taxes (such as property tax or sales tax or state income tax or business taxes) or federal taxes such as the tax on gasoline and diesel or payroll taxes (for Social Security and Medicare) which many of these "47%" do pay.

And, the claim that these 47% "never paid taxes before" is likely wrong -- some people pay federal income taxes some years and not other years. In particular, retired people who are largely or entirely living on their Social Security may not owe any Federal income taxes but may have paid Federal income taxes for many decades of their working lives.

Re:Which is the bigger crime?

[knorthern knight]

http://www.washingtontimes.com...

not to mention going after the donors to the organizations...

http://www.breitbart.com/big-g...

> The organization discovered the IRS was using donor lists it extracted from tax-exempt
> organizations during its anti-Tea Party crusade to target the donors themselves for tax audits.

And Google on the phrase...

Lois Lerner hard drive

about losing more government-related emails than Clinton. Since she was going after conservatives, "no reasonable prosecutor..." (who didn't want to end up dead) would file charges against her.