Local man’s win against scammer
A TOOWOOMBA man had the last laugh against scammers trying to blackmail him.
Ben Apsey yesterday missed a phone call from a man purporting to be from the Australian Tax Office and threatening legal action.
After listening to the recorded message Mr Apsey decided to call him back.
“He asked if it was my intention to defraud the ATO and how I wanted to go about the situation.”
He was given two options: pay the bill or be arrested within hours and be put in jail for 72 hours.
“This is where it clicked. The ATO would not threaten arrest nor would they put someone in jail for an investigation without any contact for 72 hours,” he said.
So Mr Apsey decided on a course of action. He’d play the part of a man clearly in distress and wanting to rectify the situation.
While he was on hold for about a minute he had time to look up the ATO website regarding scammers.
He soon found out it was a widespread scam.
The supervisor was put onto the phone and asked how Mr Apsey wanted to pay off his debt and how much money he had.
“I answered a payment plan would be great and that I could only afford about $500 at the moment.
“He was put off by this and informed me they couldn’t take such a small payment and would have to send it to court.
“So I said I would pay the $500 and do the rest over the next couple of weeks and he seemed happy but stated it couldn’t be paid using bank transfer or card, only using other taxable items such as gift cards.”
This was where Mr Apsey was ready to reveal his cunning plan and informed him he had recorded the call (although he hadn’t) and taken down the number.
“I told him I didn’t believe the ATO would threaten someone in the first instance and certainly wouldn’t not accept a payment plan via bank or EFTPOS.
“What government would want a debt paid with iTunes or gift cards?
“I think he now realised he had called someone who had got the better of him and proceeded to swear.”
Mr Apsey was laughing quite loudly and then had the last say.
“The ATO definitely would not swear at someone on a recorded call.”
Mr Apsey said he might have just stopped them conning someone else.
For details on scams visit Scamwatch.gov.au.
❝ I told him I didn’t believe the ATO would threaten someone.
— Ben Apsey