Scammers are posing as IRS agents and stealing people's money. One man's story proves it can happen to anyone. -Mashable

[justaprogressive]

Brad K. was — to put it mildly — exhausted. In May 2024, he was a brand-new father to a weeks-old baby, balancing the new responsibility with his role as a husband and dog dad.

"They say the three biggest life stressors are having a kid, moving, and starting a new job," he said in an interview with Mashable. "And I did all three at the same time, within a month of one another."

Sleep deprived and facing one of life's most stress-inducing transitions, Brad, admittedly, wasn't his normal, clearheaded self when an unknown number called him after a long day of grocery and Home Depot runs, driving home with dinner for him and his wife.

A man was on the other end, speaking in what Brad recognized as a regional accent. He explained, with the lack of urgency stereotypically associated with civil servants, that Brad had misfiled his taxes. He still owed more than $800 to the federal government and, the man explained, he needed to pay ASAP.

https://mashable.com/article/irs-agent-tax-scam

[democratsruletheday]

1. I applaud this guy...

takes cojones to admit a mistake as big as his. It CAN happen to virtually anyone, I agree with that too

[MagickMuffin]

2. Learn this lesson: Government departments DO NOT CALL YOU

If they need to get in touch with you they will snail mail you, and even nowadays that can be scammed.

If you receive a call from the “government” ask for their name and a call back number so you can call them back. More than likely they will hang up.

Below is something that happened to an acquaintance of mine.

Also beware of scam calls from your banking institutes. Scammers can now use phone numbers that look like they are your banks. They will tell you they are from the fraud decision and that there’s an issue with your account.

Someone else on her post mentioned Cellular is also being used to hack your phones. Her scam was someone called her from “Cellular” and told her someone was trying to buy a phone and they would give her a code to use which she did. Immediately, her phone was inoperable.

Realizing what she did might not have been right so they called cellular from her sister’s phone and informed Cellular. They were able to replace her SIM card.


Just a few examples of what people are doing to trick us into giving out our info without a second thought because we fall for the scams. I just hope I don’t fall for this crap.

[Jose Garcia]

3. "Regional accent"

The article doesn't mention the region.

[Mosby]

4. Lock your credit.

Then you don't have to worry as much about what info is out their.

[NowISeetheLight]

5. Info Is Out There

Last year I received a letter about the AT&T breach. About a week later my anti-virus popped up that my information was on the deep web (I already knew it was). I ordered the report from the company AT&T set up for free monitoring and found everything was there (social, name, address, dob, etc). I mean I might've just as well sent them my entire profile.

Needless to say if ANYONE calls about ANYTHING my standard response is "Thank you for calling. I will call you back at the number I have for your company on the credit card (or whatever else) and inquire about this. Do you have a case number?". Usually I get a "click" and that is it.