<div dir="ltr">Hi Rick,<div> Good for you! Yes, I get scam calls too. Just not that one yet.</div><div> I see from my husband's practice, he is a tax accountant, that some people get very scared when they receive correspondence from the IRS or Franchise Tax Board.</div><div><br></div><div>Elise Scher</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Fri, Aug 31, 2018 at 4:39 AM Rick Moen <<a href="mailto:rick@linuxmafia.com">rick@linuxmafia.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Around 5:40pm local time, the house 'phone rings. Ring, ring, ring,<br>
ring... I reach it, and glance at Caller ID.<br>
<br>
-------------------<br>
|MURRAY UT |<br>
| 801-590-3114 |<br>
-------------------<br>
<br>
Rick: Hi there, Murray You-tee from area code eight-oh-one. You're on.<br>
<br>
<br>
Now, it's important in this age of telephone usage that Caller ID has<br>
always been vulnerable to provision of forged (false) information, but,<br>
ever since VoIP has become commodity service to everyone and everyone's<br>
brother, it's totally unreliable and should assumed to be a lie -- with<br>
minor exceptions if you happen to be accepting the call at the desk of<br>
your regional 911 emergency service centre, because E911 lines have<br>
enhanced Caller ID for good and compelling reasons. (See:<br>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_9-1-1" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_9-1-1</a>) Otherwise, assume<br>
there's an excellent chance whatever Caller ID information the LCD <br>
display tells you is a barefaced lie.<br>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caller_ID_spoofing" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caller_ID_spoofing</a><br>
<br>
<br>
Caller: Is [name of someone I've never heard of] there?<br>
Rick: There's nobody by that name at this number.<br>
<br>
<br>
Caller then said he was calling for me, giving the formal version of my<br>
name discoverable from, for example, the property tax records for my<br>
residence.<br>
<br>
<br>
Rick: Who's calling, please?<br>
Caller: [not actually answering my question] I'm calling to follow<br>
up on a grand jury summons. You signed for it on July 11th<br>
at 1105 Altschul Avenue, but failed to show up at the jury. <br>
But we can straighten this out today if you come down to the <br>
courthouse.<br>
Rick: What courthouse is that?<br>
Caller: 450 Golden Gate Avenue [this being the Federal Building in San<br>
Francisco].<br>
<br>
<br>
At this point, I'm seeing lots of signs of scamminess, but am not sure<br>
what the scam is, and also there's always the residual possibility that<br>
this is some utterly inept law enforcement representative, and someone<br>
has epically screwed up at a court clerk's office. But things that<br>
bother me include the fact that I vaguely recall 801, the claimed<br>
calling area code, being in Utah, and that we're already past the close<br>
of business on the West Coast, not to mention it being even an hour<br>
later in Utah (Mountain Daylight Time).<br>
<br>
<br>
Rick: I'm sorry, who's calling, again? <br>
Caller: This is the US Marshalls Office.<br>
Rick: US Marshalls Office in San Francisco?<br>
Caller: Yes.<br>
Rick: I'm very sure that nobody signed for a grand jury summons in<br>
July, and also grand jury summonses don't include signature <br>
requirements, and also I'm very unimpressed that your Caller<br>
ID is from a place nowhere near San Francisco. If you're not a <br>
fraud and are serious, send a letter.<br>
<br>
<br>
About this time, the connection dropped, not caused by me. I went off<br>
to tell Deirdre about this strangeness, and the phone rings again.<br>
(In the meantime, I've double-checked area code 801, and, yes, Salt Lake<br>
City.) Ring, ring....<br>
<br>
-------------------<br>
|MURRAY UT |<br>
| 801-590-3114 |<br>
-------------------<br>
<br>
Rick: Well, hello again.<br>
Caller: You need to come down to the courthouse [blah blah]<br>
Rick: Here's what we're going to do. You will tell me your name, for<br>
starters. I'm going to look up the correct telephone number<br>
for the US Marshall Service at 450 Golden Gate Avenue.<br>
I sure hope you can be reached via the front desk, because <br>
that's what I'm going to call.<br>
Caller: [starts to give me a telephone number]<br>
Rick: No, you aren't listening. You're going to give me your name,<br>
then I'm going to call the _real_ US Marshalls Service number<br>
for the SF office, and in the unlikely event of you really <br>
working there, I'm going to be speaking to you _and_ to your <br>
boss, and we'll go from there.<br>
Caller: You listen to me, you motherfucker...<br>
Rick: No, you listen to _me_, you two-bit poxy con-artist, you don't<br>
get to call me on my home telephone and make bullbleep threats <br>
for whatever your stupid scheme is....<br>
<br>
{click}<br>
<br>
<br>
It remains not completely clear what the exact scam was, but I figure<br>
it goes like this: The 'hook' is him being able to recite my formal<br>
name and street address (which is supposed to make it seem genuine) --<br>
but that is not at all impressive because he probably was just working<br>
from property tax record, which gave him both data items plus telephone<br>
number. Also, it's pretty unimpressive that the first time around, he<br>
asked for someone else's name before asking for me.<br>
<br>
The scam probably involved something like him telling me a huge fine was<br>
being assessed against me, but that I could settle everything<br>
immediately by going down to a local store and wiring money to<br>
somewhere, otherwise, oh noes! I'd need to drive to the Federal<br>
Building in San Francisco, where I might be, oh noes!, arrested.<br>
<br>
So, the hook is the allegedly compelling name/number/address<br>
information. The goad is the bullbleep threat.<br>
<br>
And that's the interesting bit: Over the years, I've learned that a<br>
depressingly large number of people get completely terrified if they<br>
hear anything that seems to be a legal threat, and just immediately<br>
switch their brains off.<br>
<br>
Probably, some number of targets say they're heading down to the Federal<br>
Building, in which case they end up talking to very puzzled<br>
receptionists at the US Marshalls Service, who say they have no idea why<br>
the target is there.<br>
<br>
<br>
Last, you do not 'sign for' a jury summons (including a Federal grand jury <br>
summons). The summons orders you to show up on a certain date, and<br>
includes a form you can send back to be excused (serious illness,<br>
extreme age, on-call physician, in the military, in law enforcement) or<br>
to request the appearance be rescheduled. Otherwise, you don't send<br>
anything back; they just expect you to be there. (The form will have a<br>
telephone number to call the day before you're due, to find out if you<br>
are still needed.) If you fail to show up for a Federal grand jury,<br>
indeed the US Marshalls Service will be sent out (by the judge) to find<br>
you at your residence or place of work, and bring you back to a very<br>
not-pleased judge why you were a no-show.<br>
<br>
And last-last, if I _had_ gotten a Federal grand jury summons, I'd<br>
certainly have remembered it.<br>
<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">KI6PUO</div></div>