Scam Alert- Phony Department of Taxation

Submitted to YWN via email:

You may want to read this. It is 100% true. It happened to me personally this past Monday March 21st 2011 (Shushan Purim).

My sister in law called me a bit concerned that she got a call from the Department of Taxation asking for my wife. She told them they have the wrong number so they hung up. The number on her caller ID was 518-451-2774 (an Albany NY area code so it seemed real) and the wording that came up on her caller ID was “NYS Dept of Taxation”. I was confused why they would call her asking for my wife but since I had just mailed in my 2010 tax return a little over 2 weeks ago I figured I should call back. I did. I called the number from her caller ID and it rang twice. Then a recording came on saying “thank you for successfully installing the Cisco (?? spelling) system. I immediately hung up. I did a google search for the number and sure enough it comes up as a scam. I still don’t know what the Cisco system is and am trying to find out.

What I wanted to share with you is that if you read up on this scam, they say that you get a call asking for a family member (it seems through the internet (perhaps Geni) they connect family members so it sounds like a real call) and if they get you on the phone they say they are calling from the Dept of Taxation and need to verify information on your return. They ask questions, you answer and of course through the conversation they get your address and more important they get your social security number since the call seems so real.

Personally, at home, I have reminded my wife and children to never give their social security number to anyone who calls them asking for it. If it is a real call and you feel you do need to give it then ask the person who called you for a number to call back since for security reasons you cannot give your social to anyone who calls you. If it is a real request they will give you a number and when you call it back you will NOT get them on the phone. You will get a recording that tells who you called and through the automated system you will get to a person who you can then believe needs to get your social. Banks, credit cards, and all other legit institutions are well aware of the scammers and will almost never ask for your social. Maybe the last 4 digits but not the whole number. The rule of thumb is that if you call a company then at least you have a better shot of feeling it is real. This is what I have done. Please do whatever you wish (if anything).

Anyone can call you and say they are anyone they want to say, and there is no way to know if it is real. A 518 (Albany) number? caller ID says dept of taxation? Why wouldn’t I think it’s real. I just learned my lesson the hard way and hope by passing this on to you it will help prevent you from getting scammed.

Have a great day. Feel free to pass this along