Area code 202 is for Washington DC and seems to be a favorite ‘hook’ for telephone scammers

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In: Advice, Technology
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Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2014 06:26:16 GMT
From: “Jackie Strouble”
Subject: Re: Weird calls

Kira, You did the right thing. Area code 202 is for Washington DC and seems to be a favorite ‘hook’ for telephone scammers. Here are some links to news stories (or just skip to the bottom for what to do about it).

Here is a similar account: http://www.forbes.com/sites/halahtouryalai/2014/03/05/how-an-irs-telephone-scam-nearly-duped-me-out-of-5000/

If you are interested, here is an account of how such scammers set up their offshore cons and continue to operate them: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/avoid-falling-victim-phone-scammers/story?id=12024424

The Do-Not-Call Registry (FCC/FTC) sets the rules for legitimate telemarketers and has no jurisdiction when it comes to prank calls, harassing calls or telephone scams.

Here is a link from the IRS about various scams using their agency as a ‘hook’: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Warns-of-Pervasive-Telephone-Scam

And here is the site they (the IRS) link to in order to report your particular problem with the IRS scam and probably the “Betty” scam too: https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#crnt&panel1-1

Thanks for the heads up. Good luck!