
IRS scams:A taxi driver saved an elderly woman from being scammed out of $25,000 - mdani
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/16/us/taxi-driver-prevents-scam-trnd/index.html
======
lightwin
Few days ago I was waiting in car at a traffic signal. A young woman came
running to me and pledged for help. She said she needed a ride to nearest bank
branch. It was very cold weather and she was shivering without wearing any
winter jacket etc. Looking at her face I sensed something was wrong. I just
asked and she told me in a low voice that she was going to pay someone $9000
to avoid a potential arrest. She was still on call with the scammer as he
asked her to keep talking to him on way to bank. It took me lot of time to
convince her to hang up the phone. After that I dropped her back at her home.
I am still thinking how many like her are being scammed everyday and what can
we do to help.

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ksaj
Years ago I helped a guy clean malware off his system. While looking through
his configuration, I saw some oddly-named device drivers, and he insisted that
they were part of his music hardware and could not be deleted. I told him to
at least keep an eye on it.

A week later, he asked me again to clean malware off his system. I asked him
how it got back on there, and he told me Microsoft called and said his system
was infected, and thus began the tech-support scam. I said "Um, did you forget
you already paid me to remove that shit? You just invited that guy to put it
back!"

I looked at his config and more "drivers" with similar names appeared in the
list that weren't there before. Finally he was convinced the other ones
weren't part of his music hardware install and that I should delete them.

While doing this, he confided in me that he had just lost $1500, because a
girl he met online from overseas was supposed to visit him, and whatever
happened so she had to borrow money from him for the ticket. But gee golly,
she never showed up. He was surprised, because she sounded so nice.

After that, I refused to do any more work on his computers. Although I did
tell him if he continues to feel like throwing money around indiscriminately
at every scam that shows up, I'll gladly quote him for fake services just to
keep him happy and broke.

For the first time ever, he declined.

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rdiddly
Just can't figure out the enduring appeal of these IRS scams. Is the IRS the
scariest bogeyman people can think of? Seems like "I'm a violent criminal and
I'll kill you if you don't pay" would be scarier. But then I guess it lacks
legal authority, which the IRS has, so maybe that's scarier or more
persuasive?

Anyway I note that a misspent youth of getting into minor legal trouble and
tax-dodging can actually be beneficial, in that you learn how these agencies
actually work and what constitutes a legitimate government action. Is it on
paper? Was it (preferably) served to you at the front door by a uniformed
deputy?

What is the difficulty/cost/risk level of making a phone call anywhere in the
world vs. outfitting someone in a convincing-looking police uniform of that
area? Type of thing. I know I'm preaching to the choir...

Maybe if I get one of these calls I'll tell them "Just go ahead and send a
deputy like usual." Except no, because if they're especially spiteful they
might S.W.A.T. me.

~~~
saddestcatever
> a misspent youth of getting into minor legal trouble and tax-dodging can
> actually be beneficial, in that you learn how these agencies actually work

There's the problem. It's no small task to understand the underlying functions
and behaviors of a complex system.

It's easy to recognize a "violent criminal". You know it when you see it.
Something much more complicated like the IRS? You don't know what you're
looking at.... or if it's even legit/legal.... entirely shrouded in mystery
and fear.

The real threat is the one you don't know.

~~~
rdiddly
Good insight. So yeah I guess it's the perfect combination of large, powerful,
authoritative and inscrutable!

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codegeek
I tell everyone I know to talk to anyone in their family about this,
especially elders who are more gullible or vulnerable to such scams. IRS does
not and will not call you directly on phone demanding money, EVER.

~~~
ksaj
They also won't demand or even accept payment by apple card or bitcoin.

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ycombonator
IRS scams mostly originate from India, I get one a day from “John Huntington”
with a thick Indian accent from IRS enforcement desk. I can see how old ladies
can get scammed easily. The government can shut it down now, all it needs is a
legislation to require VOIP to POTS terminators to require the billing address
and ownership information of each phone number they terminate. Game over.

~~~
Nextgrid
Exactly. There is some entity somewhere that is bringing these calls to your
local carrier. The carrier should log which other carrier the call came from
when they accept it, and so on and so forth. If there are too many complaints
the offending carrier is kicked out of the club and is no longer able to
interconnect with that local carrier. Have some financial incentives like huge
fines (the carriers are complicit of this fraud because they get paid for
delivering these calls to you) and the problem will solve itself in a matter
of weeks.

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webmobdev
Banks should introduce a policy that elderly people should not be allowed to
withdraw large sums from ATM and need to come to the bank for the same. And
when they do come to the branch to withdraw large amounts, the banks should do
their best to determine that the withdrawal is not related to any scams.

~~~
dragonwriter
It is neither banks’ job to decide that elderly people need a conservatorship
without court action nor their job to on their own decide to act as
conservator.

~~~
webmobdev
That's not entirely correct - in fact, banks limit and are even supposed to
report unusually large withdrawals by clients to the authorities. This is
applicable nearly everywhere in the world.

Europe / UK:

 _Large cash withdrawals are a thorny issue for banks because of the various
scams which have seen some older people conned into handing over large sums of
money to fraudsters. On top of that, banks are petrified about falling foul of
the regulations on money laundering and financing crime, and being hit with
huge fines, so they get twitchy about “unusual account activity”._

> _The British Bankers’ Association told us: “There is a clear tension between
> providing customers with easy access to their money and protecting them from
> the threat of a fraud that could have a devastating effect on their
> finances. If you are planning to make a large withdrawal, we recommend you
> talk to your bank in advance.”_

\- [https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/sep/12/big-cash-
withd...](https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/sep/12/big-cash-withdrawals-
bank-barclays-denied-access)

America / US:

> _Federal law allows you to withdraw as much cash as you want from your bank
> accounts. It 's your money, after all. Take out more than a certain amount,
> however, and the bank must report the withdrawal to the Internal Revenue
> Service, which might come around to inquire about why you need all that
> cash._

\- [https://finance.zacks.com/federal-banking-rules-
withdrawing-...](https://finance.zacks.com/federal-banking-rules-withdrawing-
large-sums-cash-1696.html)

Asia / India:

> An Indicative List of Suspicious Activities:

> Transactions Involving Large Amounts of Cash ... > Transactions that do not
> make Economic Sense ... > Activities not consistent with the Customer’s
> Business ... > Attempts to avoid Reporting/Record-keeping Requirements ... >
> Unusual Activities ... > Customer who provides Insufficient or Suspicious
> Information ... > Certain Suspicious Funds Transfer Activities ... > ...
> Check list for preventing money-laundering activities:...

\- [http://archive.is/4k7S6](http://archive.is/4k7S6)

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onceUponADime
Ah, question, would a veto by people you named reliable on any large scale
move, after your decision has been proofen impaired once, be a acceptable
solution for society?

~~~
alehul
From an American perspective, my first thought would be "how could this power,
vested in the state, be abused by an authoritarian government?"

~~~
onceUponADime
Why vested into the state? Its three of your fellow citizens? You choose?

~~~
alehul
> after your decision has been proofen impaired once

Who decides that your decision has been proven impaired, and how?

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okigan
Why is this on tech news site? but it does seem to fit CNN domain

~~~
bestnameever
So someone can come up with a tech solution for this problem.

~~~
okigan
this is not a tech problem - scam phone calls easily solved by requiring
authentication - it's political problem that scam companies keep paying to not
get it implemented.

trying to get tech solutions that go agains political will is waist of time -
work on political first [on cnn] then come here for [tech] solution

~~~
nkrisc
There's not a tech solution, it's an education problem. As long as people
believe the first thing some stranger says to them it will be a problem.

~~~
lightwin
Implementing a tech solution might still be more doable than trying to educate
a million people.

~~~
pintxo
We could still try to educate them, it gives so much other benefits as well,
it’s worth the effort

