Phone scams may be getting more and more clever by the day, but one office full of phony IRS agents made a decidedly dumb move when they called a computer programmer who happens to specialize in scam prevention.
The programmer and Redditor, who goes by the username YesItWasDataMined, but operates an anti-scam operation called Project Mayhem, received a voicemail from someone claiming to be an IRS employee. When he called them back and was asked to pay a massive fine for unclear reasons, he knew immediately that he was being had - and came up with a genius way to pull the plug on them. He wrote a script that called each of their phones 28 times per second with an automated message, tying up their lines and making it impossible to reach other potential victims.
The actual IRS recently published a report declaring these kinds of schemes a "major threat to taxpayers," and estimates that over 10 thousand victims have been affected since 2013, collectively being defrauded of more than 54 million dollars.
Project Mayhem's official YouTube channel now proudly features a hilarious 10-minute sample of the havoc wreaked upon the unfortunate scammers, which has already gained over 1 million views. Watch it below, and always remember to protect yourself against any suspicious requests for your private information.
More info: Project Mayhem