Frank Abagnale s Advice on Avoiding Impostor Scams
Frank Abagnale's Advice on Avoiding Impostor Scams Scams & Fraud
“I was scared,” Megan recalls. She walked to a nearby Walgreens and did as the IRS “agents” instructed: She bought a gift card. She then scratched off the strip to reveal the numbers on the back and read them to the scammers over the phone. “The man told me I had to go back into the store and buy more cards,” she says, her emotions still raw almost a year later. “I kept telling him how cold it was outside, and he'd just say, ‘That's OK, ma'am — just keep scratching off and reading the numbers to me.’ “ The man kept her on the phone the whole time, warning her not to tell anyone why she was buying so many cards with cash. In all, she bought $650 worth of gift cards, not the amount originally demanded but enough to appease the crooks. Megan was so frightened that she called one of her coworkers to tell her she might not make it to work the following Friday because she was going to be arrested for tax evasion. After hearing the story, the coworker said she was worried her friend was being scammed. Megan then realized what had happened to her. The scammers had gotten her “under the ether,” as the condition is known among con artists — that heightened emotional state where you're unable to think clearly or make rational decisions. But it was too late; her money was gone for good.
Scammers Pose as IRS Agents — Demanding Gift Cards as Payment
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Getty Images When Megan Murfield, then 40, answered a phone call in early 2018, two people were on the line: a woman and a man, both claiming to work for the Internal Revenue Service. “They said I owed $2,085 in back taxes and that if I didn't put 50 percent down, I was going to go to jail,” Megan says. The woman told her, “We have never gotten a response from you, so it has been considered an intentional fraud, and a lawsuit has been filed under your name by the United States government.” The man said, “The arrest warrant is released on your name."“I was scared,” Megan recalls. She walked to a nearby Walgreens and did as the IRS “agents” instructed: She bought a gift card. She then scratched off the strip to reveal the numbers on the back and read them to the scammers over the phone. “The man told me I had to go back into the store and buy more cards,” she says, her emotions still raw almost a year later. “I kept telling him how cold it was outside, and he'd just say, ‘That's OK, ma'am — just keep scratching off and reading the numbers to me.’ “ The man kept her on the phone the whole time, warning her not to tell anyone why she was buying so many cards with cash. In all, she bought $650 worth of gift cards, not the amount originally demanded but enough to appease the crooks. Megan was so frightened that she called one of her coworkers to tell her she might not make it to work the following Friday because she was going to be arrested for tax evasion. After hearing the story, the coworker said she was worried her friend was being scammed. Megan then realized what had happened to her. The scammers had gotten her “under the ether,” as the condition is known among con artists — that heightened emotional state where you're unable to think clearly or make rational decisions. But it was too late; her money was gone for good.