By Kyra-lin Hom

This last week, I had the wonderful experience of being awoken by a phone call from an unidentified number. For months now, I've received several of these mystery calls. I generally refuse to answer – automatically selecting 'ignore' on my cell if I don't recognize the number, as they have nearly all been either phishing phone calls (checking the validity and usability of my phone number) or scams with a recorded voice informing me of some fake credit emergency.

Usually these numbers ID as some foreign area code and are noticeably scams just based on the numbers themselves. But this particular call was different. Though I did not know the number, I was familiar with the area code as being from the area surrounding my graduate school. (I remotely attend Michigan State University.) So, after ignoring the first call, I answered the second one that came immediately after.

I was immediately transferred to someone claiming to be a Lansing, MI city police investigator. Caller ID confirmed the source location. He informed me the call was being monitored and recorded via federal regulations and spewed forth several official sounding numbers. Then, wasting no time, he said he had a federal warrant for my arrest for tax evasion and that my degree and university enrollment had been discontinued as a consequence.

Sleepy and blindsided, my heart started racing. I told them I had no idea what they were talking about, that I don't live in that area nor have I taken out any student loans. The man was incredibly aggressive. He wouldn't let me hang up or call him back. He kept threatening me with arrest if I didn't take the issue seriously, claiming that I had failed to respond to previous attempts to contact me.

Was I suspicious? Of course! But the threat was serious enough that I couldn't handily dismiss the caller. Not to mention that I wasn't yet entirely awake. But then came the kicker. The man on the phone wanted me to (staying on the phone the whole time) go to the nearest Moneygram and immediately pay my fine of $1,700 or else I would be arrested.

What.

That's when my brain finally switched on. I have a degree in Criminal Justice for heaven's sake! I know this isn't how any of this actually works. First of all, no city police department would be calling to warn me of an impending federal arrest warrant. Second, the IRS doesn't issue arrest warrants! A host of other things didn't add up as well, not least of which was the requirement that I immediately pay the IRS via Moneygram. Seriously?! Was that not supposed to raise red flags? It's really not all that difficult to forge caller ID or play recordings of appropriate office noise in the background.

Needless to say, the call didn't last very long after that.

This wasn't my first scam encounter (thankfully, I've never lost any money to one), but it was my first direct experience with aggressive scammers like this. I can see how people – even those of us who should know better – can be lured in. Had the call not lasted quite as long and had they had a more immediate method of payment, my brain may not have woken up in time.

Take my story as words of warning. If something doesn't feel right, ignore the technology and go with your gut. If you want more information, there are a ton of resources online. The IRS website in particular has a good page on tax scams. Or you can call your local police department's non-emergency line.

Don't get played. Because even if you don't end up paying, those few minutes of unnecessary panic are moments of your life you can't get back.