On the heels of the government's plan to stimulate the economy by sending out special tax rebates, authorities say crooks are posing as officials from the Internal Revenue Service or Social Security Administration.
They are calling people and asking for personal financial information so they can "directly deposit" rebate money.
One Texas woman, 69-year-old Edna Lawrence, said she was called at least eight times by a man posing as an IRS agent. She didn't fall for it, and instead notified the state's attorney general about the caller.
"Actually, he was kind of pushy. Basically he wasn't going to take 'no,' and I had to hang up on him," she said.
One of her daughter's friends, however, who received the same type of phone call, believed the caller and lost more than $200, Lawrence said.
"I think it is horrible that anybody -- anybody -- would do that to anyone, because those people are looking forward to that money," Lawrence said.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued a consumer alert notifying Texans about the new scams. He says economic hard times could get in the way of making good decisions.
Read full story [CNN]
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