NEW DELHI (AP) – 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.
h/t Jerry
Yeah! Maybe some of those danged phone calls, with no one at the other end of the call, will cease.
Thank goodness the police finally connected the dots.
I bet someone in the IRS is wishing they had thought of this first. And before you say something like, Michael, they couldn’t do this because it’s against the law. Take a moment and rethink that thought.
I had someone pretending to be from the IRS call me and demand payment for unpaid taxes. I have 20+ experience dealing with them and not in, shall we say, a friendly fashion.
They never call.
I played along with this jerk until I got bored-about 2 minutes. Told him to fuck off, I wasn’t paying. Silence, then a hang up. Assholes.
@Chalupa: Saw what you did there.
😉
I kept begging the wife to answer the phone and give it to me when these guys call (multiple times a month with her).
It’s always been my dream to tell someone from the IRS to perform fellatio on me, even if they only pretend to be from the IRS it would be fun.
They all need IKEA justice: nuts plus hammer, some assembly required.
When they call my house I always answer with HELLO!, and ask, “I do not mean to pry, but you don’t by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand?”
They were running this scam up here in Canada as well. Don’t know how many they caught but I was called twice. They got a quick “fuck you” and a hangup. They also did the bank security scam as well. Amazing for anyone to think the government, any government would actually call you on the phone, with an Indian or Pakistani accent to settle your tax account. God people can be stupid.
I’ve received these calls and I usually let them go to voice-mail. However, I picked up once and told them in no uncertain terms to remove my number from their list. Then I hear this little Indian-accented voice say “FU, bitch.” Hahahahaha.