SEQUIM — ’Tis the season to get phone-scammed.
“It is scam season,” Clallam County Undersheriff Ron Peregrin said Tuesday.
Sequim-area resident Terry Byrnes, 65, discovered that last week but was smart enough to avoid following through on identical robo-calls he received from “an ominous female voice,” he said Tuesday.
The woman told Byrnes that the Internal Revenue Service was suing him and to call a 206-area-code number in the Seattle area for more information.
“They never call or threaten to sue,” said Byrnes, a retired water technician.
“I knew it wasn’t legitimate.”
He ignored the first call Tuesday, expecting it was a scammer seeking credit card or other personal information, before receiving it again Friday.
He called the 206 number, which rang and rang, before calling the toll-free IRS number at 1-800-829-1040.
“They said, ‘Absolutely, we would never call; we do everything through the mail and would never threaten a lawsuit,’” Byrnes said.
He suspected the scammers were working their way through the Sequim area’s 683-phone-number prefixes and called Peninsula Daily News to inform the public.
“I was just afraid some senior might call the number and give out an account and follow the scam,” Byrnes said.
Harried retail clerks tend to check signatures less during this time of year, Peregrin said.
Scammers take advantage of that.
In addition, scammers “work off your fear,” Peregrin said.
“Unfortunately, we have an elderly community here that falls victim to that quite a bit.”
“Tell people not to give out personal information to people on the phone unless you know them personally,” Peregrin said.
“When they call, the best thing you can do is hang up.
“If they are serous, they will follow up by mail.
“These guys and gals want to get personal information so they can join in the buying craze.
“In the retail market, there’s a lot of activity, and it’s easier for some people to get lost in the crowd using someone else’s credit card.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
