Telephone criminals continue to extract millions of dollars from gullible people by telling them they owe the government money. This scam is alive in both Canada and the United States and may originate in phone room operations in India, says the U.S. treasury department. The signs were seen in South Bayview as early as August when calls hit homes in Leaside, Moore Park and Rosedale. Some of the calls employed recorded messages demanding a callback, apparently an attempt to filter easier targets. Toronto Police are warning that the onslaught continues with fraudsters getting people to hand over more than $800,000 this year by threatening that they will be arrested and jailed immediately if they do not pay within hours of getting the call.
ONE MAN LOST $500,000
In the U.S. bogus collectors posing as agents of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have extracted more than $15 million from more than 3,000 people. One U.S. man lost $500,000. It staggers the imagination how someone might amass such money and be naive enough to let it go in such a way. Victims are told they owe either the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) or the IRS large sums of money and that an arrest warrant exists for their immediate detention. They are told to go to the nearest Post Office and, and incredibly say Toronto police, told to send the money to a Connecticut address using MoneyGram
YOUR DAY WILL COME
One IRS investigator said he had received a call from the fraud gang himself. He said he told them “Your day will come.” Maybe, but the persistence of this criminal activity is almost as alarming as the crime itself. It is worrisome that people can build untraceable systems and continue to steal without getting caught. Most big businesses — banks and money transfer firms — are on the alert for customers who may be about to fall for this racket. Some people have been stopped by tellers who may hint kindly about why a withdrawal is taking place. So far, says the IRS, only two people have been arrested in Florida and are accused of somehow assisting in the racket.
