The Day I Was (Almost) Scammed

It started out as a crazy, eventful day.

Theo headed off to work and Heavenly to school. The two little kids ran around the house destroying everything that I cleaned. And clean I did because we had tons of family coming into town for Theo’s graduation from the police academy!

That’s right…this little event happened to me on the day my husband became a sworn officer. Just keep that in mind as the story goes on, because it’s an important tidbit.

I received a phone call with an automated message stating that I was flagged by the IRS for fraudulent activity and that I would be arrested within 24 hours if I did not immediately call back.

(Red Flag #1)

As I write that sentence, it’s so incredibly obvious from the beginning that this is a scam and I’m still shaking my head that they (almost) got me. But, guys….seriously. It was not obvious in the moment. That’s why it’s called a scam and that is why it works on so many people! I always thought: how dumb can you be to be scammed by these people? But now I know…it’s really easy. Really, really easy.

Anyways, I called back and the young man who answered was GOOD AT WHAT HE DOES. The voice happened to be the same voice that had left the message on my phone which I thought was strange (Red Flag #2), but I was terrified that this was true and that I was I going to be taken away from my family and put in jail on the very same day that my husband became a sworn officer. 

The man was very professional, and he went into his speech. He gave his name, employee ID, and case numbers (obviously all made up, but at the time seemed so real). He then began the speech about what I had done wrong. It was all rather vague and I kept telling him that I didn’t understand. He then told me that the IRS had come to my house TWICE and no one had responded. He gave a date and a time that they had come, and declared that no one had answered the door. He asked if I was home at the time. I consulted my calendar and according to what I had written down, I was indeed home on that day. Yet he insisted that the IRS had come twice to our house and had left written notification on our porch.

At this point, I had not once given the man my name or any information, so I asked him what address they had come to. Since we have moved within the last few years, I figured the mistake was that they had gone to the wrong address. YOU GUYS…he recited my address. I didn’t give it to him. He knew it. I know it can be pubic record, but that is scary, y’all.

Anyways, by this point I was feeling like this was the real deal. Everyone tells me that the IRS won’t call, they will come to your door…but this guy on the phone was saying that they already had come to our door twice and now it was time for disciplinary action.

He also told me that the entire phone conversation was being recorded and would be used in court, so anything I said could be used against me. That was terrifying, so I started crying. He told me to find a chair and get a glass of water and just calm down so we could proceed.

He then proceeded to give me some details that were a little fishy. He mentioned that I had fraudulent tax returns from 2009-2016. I told him I was a minor in 2009 and that I didn’t file my own taxes, to which he responded: Ma’am are you responsible for your monies or is your father? Ummm…in this case…my father? Right? (RED FLAG!)

At this point, I was freaking the freak out. I mean, FREAKING OUT. And that’s when it got really, really scammy.

He pulled up my background check and was able to list everything that I have on my record. He said that since it seemed like everything was minor, he knew I was an upstanding citizen and would call his boss to see if they could get me out of this somehow (Red Flag…and the one that finally clued me in that this was a scam). After about 30 seconds on the line with “his boss” (Red Flag…who only spends 30 seconds on the phone with their boss?), he came back on and said that they were willing to pardon me as long as I paid the amount. By this point, I was done freaking out and was totally clued in to what this guy was doing. He quoted some rather high number ($4,563) but after almost 40 minutes on the phone, he still hadn’t outright asked me for any credit card or personal information.

So I hung up.

I suddenly had this brilliant idea.

I would call the actual bona fide IRS and ask them if I really had this on my account.

I called the IRS and somehow got through to a real person in a matter of minutes. As soon as I said I had received a phone call and wanted my account checked, the lady told me it was a scam. She checked my account and indeed I was NOT in trouble with the IRS. She gave me info to report the scam and assured me that I would not be arrested.

Now, I know the comments I will most likely get after putting this story out there on the internet. Comments like…Well, obviously this was a scam…You should never trust anybody calling you….You are far too naive and innocent…

But, you guys…it was so real and in the moment, there was no way to know whether or not it was real. In fact, even after all those red flags and hanging up the phone, I still wasn’t sure it wasn’t real. I wasn’t sure until I called the actual IRS and had the women inform me that my account was clear.

I couldn’t help but think of a spiritual analogy for this. Sin…it’s like the scammer. We all know it’s out there, we all know it’s bad, and we all think it’s easy to avoid it. Until it happens to us. And then we can’t see it because of the blinders on our own eyes. And it gets us. Even if we are smart people, strong Christians. There are red flags and yet our blinders don’t allow us to see it for what it is.

I didn’t know for sure what it was until I called the actual IRS and had them look at my account. And I can’t help but compare the IRS to Scripture. It knows and it calls out our sin for what it is. It takes the blinders off and reveals the sin scams going on in our own lives.

What sin is that for you? Something that our culture says is a-ok, but you know that Scripture removes that scam and calls it out for what it is- sin. Maybe it’s an attitude of entitlement or a spirit of laziness. Or maybe it’s an opinion about how to treat gay people or black people in our community. Maybe it’s pornography or gossiping and lying. For every one of us, there is a sin that that we are blind to…and we need to take those blinders off through the lens of Scripture.

Don’t get scammed.