Okay, so maybe there are a lot of gullible people out there just waiting to hand over their account numbers to anyone that calls. I can understand some scams and how confusing they could be for some, but lately I received a call that made me wonder just how smart those criminals could actually be.
First of all, I came home one day to find some garbled message on my voicemail, in a very thick foreign accent, saying something about a prize package and needing an address to send it to. I deleted it, I was not interested in owning any type of time share, my great uncle had never lived in a third world country where he mysteriously accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars, and I was certain I hadn’t entered any type of contest where I hadn’t already given out my address.
So later that afternoon, I received a phone call from above said garbled foreigner who’s name was John. I’m sorry, I know that telemarketers give themselves American names to help “connect” with the costumer, but this guy could barely speak English - there was no way his parents named him John.
According to John, he worked for the IRS and had an unclaimed prize package waiting for me. This prize package contained money and a car! All I had to do was give him some information, starting with my address as to where to send the car.
I decided that maybe he just needed help with his English.
“You work for the IRS? The Int…” I started.
“That’s right ma’am, the Internal Revenue Service.” And he spouts off again how he just needs some basic information to get my package to me.
“The U.S. Government’s IRS?” I interrupt.
“Yes ma’am, the IRS!”
Who in the their right mind would ever believe that the freaking U.S. Government’s Internal Revenue Service would be sending them a car! OH MY GOSH people, you have to fill out horrendous paperwork every year just to prove how much you really owe in taxes so that they’ll give you the extra back! At the grocery store, it’s considered a regular occurrence to just give the customer their change, but the U.S. Government wants their money and for US to prove to THEM that we’ve paid enough, along with many hoops and whistles before we get our refund; there’s no way they’re giving away cars!
Not only that, but I’m guessing that the IRS has more information on the average American that the FBI has, unless you’re doing something really bad! You can’t tell me that they couldn’t figure out where I lived if they had a “unclaimed package” they were just dying to give me!
I’m not sure under what circumstances anyone would EVER believe that scam, especially this time of the year!
At this time, I was rude. I know, my mother taught me better phone matters than that, but I flat out told him, “There’s no way the IRS is giving me a car or that you even work for them.” And I hung up.
The only thing that I got from that phone call, was a laugh. I still can’t think about it without shaking my head and laughing at the stupidity of John.
