An Honest Review of "Tinnitus Terminator"

UPDATE: All of Tinnitus Terminator’s websites listed in this blog entry have either been switched to sell another product or have been shutdown. It appears that Tinnitus Terminator has been discontinued. I hope this blog post may have played, at least, a small part in this outcome.

Tinnitus Terminator is the latest in a long line of supposed "cures" for tinnitus. I found out about it when I clicked on a link to what I thought was a news article, but was just an advertisement.

The video was different from the others because it showed the actual person who was speaking. If they thought they'd garner some automatic credibility with this, they were wrong.

The presenter is a man going by the name Timothy Seaton and he claims to be a music executive. He never says what company he worked for, though. Doing a search on LinkedIn showed many professionals with that name. However, only one had anything to do with the music industry and he worked at DMX MUSIC as vice president of premier accounts. The person in the video claims to live near Denver, CO and the executive at DMX lives in Austin, Texas. So, it's obvious that they are two different people.

But, the Timothy Seaton shown in the video also presents an interesting problem: what does he really look like?

I know, the answer seems obvious: he's in the video. You can see him, so you know what he looks like, right?

Actually, no we don't.

Here's Timothy Seaton #1 from the video posted at tinnitusterminator.net showing this picture and the voice of the speaker identifying himself as Timothy Seaton.

But, there's a problem. This man's name isn't Timothy Seaton. This is actually a picture of Todd Bradley, who is a software designer from Denver, Colorado. Mr Bradley actually did have surgery on his left ear back in February 2015, but it wasn't for tinnitus. It was for autophony and here's the link to Mr Bradley's blog where he talks about it.

Now, here's Timothy Seaton #2 from the videos posted at

• tinnitus-terminator.com (website shutdown)
• tinnitusterminator-program.com (website shutdown)
• tinnitus-terminator.net (website shutdown)

Obviously, they are two different people and other reviewers have noticed this, too. This should be a deal-breaker, right away. Why trust a product that uses two separate people going by the same name, both posing as executives in the music industry and using the exact same script in both videos? Between the two men, it is the second one whose video has been distributed more often. But, I wonder what enormous idiot forgot to take the first one down before someone like me found it?

It is possible that the scum behind all this would have been aware of potential problems if/when Todd Bradley became aware of their unauthorized use of his image in their video, so they got a second actor to play the part, but kept the backstory. Still, why leave the video online?

Fucking morons!

As I said, Tom Bradley did have ear surgery and here is a picture of him in bed shortly afterwards.

This picture is of Timothy Seaton #2 and you can tell that the picture is photoshopped and very badly, too.

Unfortunately, you'll have to watch the video to see where they use it, since you have to watch the video straight through and you can't jump around.

I don't know if Todd Bradley is aware that his image has been used to sell this product, but I intend to inform him at my first opportunity. (UPDATE: Mr Bradley was contacted)

I didn't make this one myself. I got it from their website. Can you tell me, with a straight face, that it isn't the most obviously 'shopped picture that you've ever seen? Would it have been so difficult to have the guy lay in a bed and wrap a bandage on his head? It would have taken only a few minutes. It's like they aren't even trying!

Okay, now for the websites:

But, tinnitusterminator.net is registered in Panama (UPDATE: changed from Iceland), which puts it outside of US law enforcement's reach. However, its registration expires in August 2016, so it probably won't be around much longer.

UPDATE: the website  has been renewed and expires in 2017
ANOTHER UPDATE: tinnitusterminator.net now redirects to noiseaway.com, which is also anonymously registered in Panama. So, Todd Bradley's picture doesn't appear there anymore. The site noiseaway.com was created in November 2015 and updated in October 2016. I recently wrote a blog post about NoiseAway and you can read it here.

The other websites mentioned above have William Doil of Glenview Partners Inc as their domain registrant. Mr Doil isn't only putting up websites for Tinnitus Terminator, he's also registered numerous other sites that deal with stuff like hair loss, erectile dysfunction, diabetes, winning the lottery and numerous other subjects. Most of their websites have videos with a person speaking on-camera, which makes them a little better than Tinnitus Remedy or Tinnitus Miracle that I blogged about previously. People tend to trust a product more if they can actually see the person trying to sell it to them.

Given the involvement of William Doil in such a large collection of websites hawking such questionable "cures" for such a variety of ailments, it doesn't lend much credibility to Tinnitus Terminator, does it?

At the bottom of one of the Tinnitus Terminator websites I mentioned, I noticed this:
"Copyright © Timothy Seaton"

Well, if it's copyrighted and Mr Seaton lives near Denver, Co as he claims, then his copyright should be listed with the US Copyright Office. It should be, but it isn't. There is no copyright held by a Timothy Seaton, for anything and there is no copyright listed for Tinnitus Terminator.

I'm not surprised. Not at all.

But, what about Timothy Seaton's life history with tinnitus and the claims he makes about Tinnitus Terminator? How does they stack-up?

Not very well.

Mr Seaton claims that his doctor recommended a surgical procedure because it seemed that one of the three bones of his inner ear was broken and this was causing the ringing in his ears. So, they had to open him up to fix the problem.

He doesn't explain how one of these bones could possibly have been broken and I don't even know how that would be possible, aside from a traumatic head injury. But, the only surgery that I've heard about performed on the bones of the inner ear would be a stapedectomy which would be done as a treatment for osteosclerosis which is an abnormal hardening of the bones of the inner ear due to mineral buildup, not a breakage.

All these supposed "cures" for tinnitus claim that doctors and the pharmaceutical industry would rather sufferers paid for drugs or expensive surgeries to treat tinnitus, rather than giving them an outright cure. But, as I've said before, there are no drugs prescribed to treat tinnitus nor any surgical procedures recommended to correct it. So, Big Pharma is making diddley-squat from it!

While Tinnitus Terminator claims to use sound as a way to "retrain your bran" to cure tinnitus. use of sound therapy has already been used for years. So, this is old news, not a new revelation. As an example of how long sound therapy has been used, this is how William Shatner has managed to live with his tinnitus after being injured on the set of the Star Trek episode, "Arena".

For all their claims that there have been clinical trials for Tinnitus Terminator and that actual researchers have been involved in testing the product, they never provide you with the names of the people or institutions who conducted the trials or the actual scientists who did the work. You're simply supposed to take their word for it.

Here's something from their own website (scroll to the bottom) that you should see. I have not altered the text in any way.

All information and results stated on this website are for information purposes only. The information is not specific medical advice for any individual. The content website and product should not substitute medical advice from a health professional. If you have a health problem, speak to your doctor or a health professional immediately about your condition. The statements presented here have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Neither the retailer nor the author are engaged in rendering medical or similar professional services or advice via this website or in the product, and the provided advice is not meant to replace the professional medical advice.

Naturally, Seaton claims that the Tinnitus Terminator videos are under constant threat of being taken offline because Big Pharma "doesn't want the Truth to get out". But, there are four registered websites and seemingly hundreds of people out there hawking this product. So, there's no danger of it being silenced.

But, what about the product, itself? What do you get in exchange for your money?

You get a digital copy of the book and some music files to download, which are sent to you via email.

"But, wait!" you say, excitedly, "what about the picture of the book I saw on the Interwebz?".


It doesn't exist. There is no physical copy of the book that you can hold in your hands, which again is different from Tinnitus Remedy and Tinnitus Miracle, which do provide you with books and even CDs.

You have to admit that it makes sense. Since there's less money that Tinnitus Terminator has to spend printing books, burning CDs and sending that crap out in the mail, there's more of your money that they can keep for themselves. Genius!!!

Of course, if you have a problem downloading it from your email, there's no way to contact these people to correct the problem. Either way, you're pissing away your hard-earned money.

***New Information Added on October 15, 2016***

Sometimes, when I blog about the various "cures" for tinnitus, people ask me if I've even read the book(s) the sellers are offering. Of course, I don't. I don't need to, since I have their websites or videos from which to draw my own conclusions.

However, I was able to obtain - for free - a copy of the "Tinnitus Terminator" book and I'm able to comment about its contents. No, I didn't hack their website or borrow someone else's copy. The link showed-up in a Google search because these guys are apparently morons.

UPDATE: The people running Tinnitus Terminator apparently discovered their screw-up and closed the link. 

So, here we go.

On the very first page of text, there is this:

No part of this document or the related materials may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior permission by the author/ publisher. The service and the materials contained in this eBook are based on the author’s research and experience. The research has been done through credible sources to the best of our knowledge.

In no event shall the author be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, punitive, or consequential damages of any kind whatsoever with respect to the service, the materials and the products contained within. This eBook is not intended to be a substitute to professional medical advice.

Apparently, they weren't counting on the Fair Use Doctrine, which allows limited parts of a book, video, etc to be duplicated for the purposes of review and commentary, which is what this blog is about.

The "research" that supposedly went into Tinnitus Terminator was done by the author, along with his "experiences". However, the author is not mentioned by name, so we are left to assume it was done by Timothy Seaton, who never even claimed to be a physician. So, a guy who doesn't even have a medical degree is going to give me advice about a medical condition? No, I don't think so.

The second paragraph is supposed to protect the author from any harm that may come to anyone who actually follows his advice. So, if anything good comes from you following Tinnitus Terminator, it's because of the author. But, if anything bad happens, you're on your own. See how that works?

On top of all that, they say that Tinnitus Terminator isn't meant to be a substitute for medical advice, which is interesting when you consider how they claim that physicians couldn't help Seaton with his tinnitus and would simply prefer to have their patients spend their money on drugs and surgeries that don't work.

Even without delving into the specific claims made in the book itself, I quickly realized that the book probably isn't copyrighted. The reason is that it contains other people's copyrighted material. You cannot copyright something that contains other people's copyrighted work without first getting the permission of the original copyright holder. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• a photograph of Jimi Hendrix on page 3. All images of Jimi Hendrix are the property of Experience Hendrix, LLLC
• a cartoon illustration is placed on page 10, but with the artist's signature edited out. Despite this rather dirty trick, I was able to find the original and discovered that it's owned by Canadian artist, Brian Fray;
• a picture of Macaulay Culkin from "Home Alone", a film owned by 20th Century Fox, is on page 25; and
• on page 62, there's a picture of the character Nemo, from the Disney-owned film "Finding Nemo".

Other pictures featured in the book may also be copyrighted works, but most appear to be clip art.
It appears that whoever put this book together didn't spend a lot of time worrying about other people's copyrights, though warning people to respect his own.

Much of the book consists of describing the different types, causes and treatments of tinnitus that are already available to read online in various websites, so you didn't need to buy the book to get this information. In fact, you can browse through the forum at Tinnitus Talk and get all that information and more for free. To me, it looked like the author is trying to impress people with his knowledge. In my case, he failed.

In my opinion, the book makes a rather idiotic claim that

By the time you have finished this book, you will no longer be yourself. This book can help you find a better life for yourself, one where you can be more relaxed, more at peace, more in tune with the world and, above all, completely and utterly happy.

I'll admit that, for many people with tinnitus, having it gone from their lives would lift a tremendous amount of personal stress off their shoulders. But, for most of us, tinnitus isn't so crippling that our personal happiness is impossible. Even if my tinnitus were gone tomorrow, it wouldn't necessarily mean that I'd spend the rest of my life "completely and utterly happy"; I'd simply have one less bit of stress in my life.

I also found it laughable that the book recommends and gives instruction for meditation, as if no one else would have thought to use it to cope with the stress caused by tinnitus. I've read numerous books about meditation, all of them written by authorities in their field. I'm certainly not going to take any tips from some clown selling a supposed "cure" for tinnitus when I know absolutely nothing about him. You can learn about meditation for free from watching YouTube videos, browsing the Internet or reading books from your local library.

In Chapter 4, as part of the Tinnitus Terminator program, two forms are provided to print out and use as part of a self-evaluation test. Supposedly, the test was developed by "reputed audiologists", but the reader isn't told who these audiologists are and what credentials they possess. Sure, audiologists work with people suffering from tinnitus, but we don't know how much experience the test developers have in that field. They could have a lot, a little or none at all.

As far as the actual program is concerned, it consists of using sound therapy. You can download some music files to listen to which are supposed to "retrain your brain", but that's not how sound therapy works. It's more like a masking effect that covers the tinnitus sounds you're hearing. Again, such masking sounds are available for free download off the Internet. Personally, I just turn on my electric fan when I'm home.

Despite admitting on the very first page that Tinnitus Terminator isn't a substitute for medical advice, they say this on page 5:

This program uses sound therapy to physically re-train how your brain works – cutting off tinnitus without the drawbacks of drugs, doctor visits or surgery. You’ll stimulate the parts of your brain responsible for properly perceiving sound and even cure your tinnitus within 30 days.

The author has no medical experience, but he knows how your brain will be affected by the program? Where did he get this information from? Nowhere in the entire book is the name of a single medical doctor who will vouch for Tinnitus Terminator and back-up the claims presented in this book. No qualified physician is going to put their name out there and risk their reputation on this quackery!

Essentially, Tinnitus Terminator tells you to relax and feel good about yourself, keep a "Can Do!" attitude and listen to some music. That's about it.

You can go to the link I provided above to read it for yourself.

***End of New Material***

These people are parasitically feeding off the frustration felt by many people living with tinnitus, especially those whose condition causes disruption of their personal and/or professional lives. While tinnitus doesn't physically cause you pain, you can suffer on an emotional or psychological level, due to the nonstop noise. There have even been reports of people committing suicide because they couldn't live with tinnitus anymore.

If you really want to talk to people who know what you're going through and you want to keep informed about the latest research on tinnitus, I strongly suggest that you join the forums at Tinnitus Talk. Members of this forum do live with tinnitus of various degrees of severity and they do keep abreast of ongoing research. They all know what you're going through because they're going through, too.

For the sake of Full Disclosure: I have tinnitus in my right ear and I have been living with it for most of my life. Most of the time, it isn't too bad. But, sometimes, it seems like I can't hear anything else but the constant buzzing in my ear. I've learned to live with it.

Legal stuff: My posting of pictures from Tinnitus Terminator affiliated websites, as well as from Todd Bradley's blog are covered under Fair Use. So, there!

If you would like to make a donation in support of the blog, in order to encourage me to post more articles like this, you can send it via Venmo.

Duane Browning

My Nightmare Experience With UPS

I've owned an iPhone 4s for nearly two years. At first, it was a really good phone for me, aside from the fact that it seemed to bleed power quickly and I couldn't change the battery. When I had an Android, I kept a spare battery handy, so I could switch them out when one ran out of power. That's one thing I liked about Androids over iPhones. Still, I soon grew to love the 4s, which had better performance than my old Android anyway.

However, after the last software update for my 4s, it didn't perform as well as it should: it began to get very hot when I used it for several minutes at a time or when I charged it, it would sometimes freeze-up when I tried to text, etc.

I decided to upgrade to a new phone with my provider, Credo Mobile. I called them and ordered an iPhone 6s, which Credo told me would be sent out via United Parcel Service (UPS) two-day delivery. It was sent out on April 18th and I was supposed to receive it on the 20th. I checked the UPS tracking number which verified the date of shipping and expected date of delivery. Everything seemed fine.

When the 20th came and my phone didn't arrive, I checked the tracking information. It had arrived at the UPS facility in Louisville, KY on the 19th and the tracking information indicated that it hadn't left there. I figured that the computer system simply hadn't caught-up. I called UPS to check on the status of my delivery and was told that the two days didn't start on the 18th, but on the 19th, because UPS hadn't actually received it until then. So, the delivery would take place on the 21st. Fine. Whatever.

Well, the 21st came and my iPhone still didn't arrive. According to the tracking information, it still hadn't left the Louisville depot. I called UPS again. At first, the operator tried to convince me that it was still in transit, but soon realized that the iPhone had been at Louisville for two days and hadn't been scanned-out. He told me that it seemed like my package had been "misplaced". I corrected him by stating that it had obviously been lost.

Upon realizing that he now had a lost package report to make, the operator told me that UPS' procedure in such cases was to file a Lost Package Report and do a search in an attempt to locate it. This search would take eight business days, since UPS doesn't work on weekends. So, the eight days began on April 21st and would end on May 3rd.

Needless to say, I was upset. I vented my frustration on Twitter, which elicited the response of the Help Team. They replied to my tweets by asking for my tracking number, so they could look into it. Each time, they told me the same thing: it was under investigation as a Lost Package.

Curious as to whether others were experiencing similar problems, I searched for "@UPS lost" on Twitter and found others complaining about their lost packages. Noticing people mentioning lost cell phones and computers, it gave me a feeling that I may never see my new iPhone, after all.

There have been news reports of UPS employees helping themselves to packages in the past. Articles from 28 January 2013, 20 July 2015, 22 October 2015 and other incidents made me doubt if my iPhone would ever find its way into my hands, since iPhones, iPads and other expensive electronics seemed to be the preferred items to be stolen.

It's not like FedEx was immune to employee theft, either. Four FedEx workers got busted earlier this year, in fact.

I have no idea if a US Postal Service employee has ever committed mail theft. Of course, theft of US Mail is a much more serious offense. While stealing from UPS or FedEx could be prosecuted under theft statutes in the states where they occur, theft of US Mail is prosecuted under Federal law and the penalties are much more severe, something that any Postal Service employee would know very well. If you steal from UPS or FedEx and get caught, you only have to deal with the local police or sheriffs. If you steal US Mail, you'll be facing the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which is no fun, at all. You can't escape the Postal Inspectors even by leaving the United States, since they can follow you to whatever country you escape because they have international authority.

Anyway, back to my recent experience.

My options seemed to be limited to waiting-out the eight business days until the investigation was over. I made sure to notify Credo about the lost package and they waited for UPS to get in touch with them whether to report the package found or to inform them that they couldn't find it. If they couldn't find it, Credo could ship me a replacement and send paperwork to UPS for reimbursement for the lost iPhone.

Out of frustration as the eighth day approached, I contacted UPS on May 2nd to see if any progress had been made. A woman named April sent me this

Dear Duane,

I'm very sorry for the position that you're in. At this time, there's nothing new. The investigation still has until the end of business day tomorrow, 05/03/16, to conclude before moving on to the next step, if needed. I will continue to monitor this for you and will contact you again via e-mail by the end of business day on Wednesday, 05/04/16.
Sincerely,
April P.
UPS Social Media Team

May 3rd came and went. I waited for April to email me on the 4th, but she didn't. I then sent UPS an email, to which I didn't receive a reply right away. So, I called them and spoke to an operator named Derek.

At first, Derek was under the impression that the eight days hadn't yet elapsed. After he double-checked, he realized that we were now in Day 9 of an 8-day investigation, so time was up. Rather than admit that the package was lost, Derek stated that the investigation team had requested an extra day to look for it. I was understandably angry at this. The 8 days had expired and now UPS had given themselves more time, without informing me that they would do so. I pointed-out that, if they could arbitrarily give themselves one more day, what would stop them from giving themselves another day after that or another week or a month?

Derek argued that they only needed one more day. So, I asked if I could call beck the next day and mention that "Derek had assured me it was only going to be the one extra day" to which Derek stated that he couldn't commit to that, since the investigators could, in fact, extend it again. So, UPS could take their sweet fucking time looking for my package and I had no option but to wait for it to be over.

Again, I called Credo to keep them updated. Like me, they were upset with how UPS was handling the situation. Not only was a customer waiting for a phone he had ordered weeks ago, but the phone was likely lost and Credo couldn't file for reimbursement until they received notice from UPS that their investigation was over and the phone was, in fact, lost.

A little after midnight, I called UPS again, since Day 9 was now elapsed and we were in Day 10. They had taken an extra day and it was gone. Again, the operator told me that the investigators needed more time.

Furious, I called Credo again. I explained to the operator that UPS seemed to be dragging their feet on my lost package and had zero problems giving themselves extension after extension, while expecting me to sit and wait for them. To my relief, Credo agreed with me that I had waited long enough. UPS had used-up their eight days and it would be grotesquely unfair to expect me to wait any longer. Credo sent me another iPhone 6s via UPS Overnight delivery, which arrived right on time. I was understandably concerned that they were using UPS again, considering my first one had disappeared into thin air. But, Credo has a contract with UPS, so they were my only option. I hoped that the Overnight delivery would travel through a different path within UPS than the two-day delivery, to avoid whatever black hole into which my iPhone had disappeared.

I was surprised to receive an email from April at UPS later the same morning as my last call to them and she sent this:

Dear Duane,

I apologize for the delay in my response. I was out of the office unexpectedly.

The investigation has been concluded and they were not able to locate anything. However, it was noted that the description provided was insufficient. Do you have any additional details that you could provide to conduct the step involving our search of our Lost and Found department again?
Sincerely,
April P.
UPS Social Media Team

I suppose it's too much to have expected her to have someone else in her office to contact me if she was out. Whatever. I told her that it was an iPhone 6s, shipped to Honolulu by Credo Mobile. I didn't miss the part where she stated that the investigation was "concluded", but then went on to say that the description of my lost package wasn't detailed enough, as if it were somehow my fault that they weren't able to find it. Later, I received this message

Dear Duane,

I'm sorry. To search for "iPhone 6" can pull up multiple entries. Do you have the serial number? Color? Anything else?
Sincerely,
April P.
UPS Social Media Team

I then told her that it was Space Gray and I gave her the device number. "Multiple entries" made me wonder if there are piles of lost iPhones sitting in their Lost and Found Department. I later received this

Dear Duane,

Thank you. I've reached out to my corporate contacts in our Lost and Found department to perform a search again with this updated information. As soon as I hear back from them, which I expect today, I will let you know.
Sincerely,
April P.
UPS Social Media Team

As if the information I had already sent wasn't specific enough, I received this ridiculous message:

Dear Duane,

I've heard back from my contact and have been told that this, too, is too broad of a description to allow an effective search. Was this phone new in the box, with all of the accessories? How many gigs did it have? Were there any accessories? Is there anyway to contact the shipper to request more details?
Sincerely,
April P.
UPS Social Media Team

It was coming from Credo Mobile, so of course it was "new in the box"! By the way, what possible fucking difference does it make how many gigs it has? Do they have mountains of Space Gray iPhone 6s' sitting in their Lost and Found Department?

Since I received this last email on the morning my replacement was due to arrive, I didn't reply right away. At this point, I sincerely felt like they were simply fucking with me. I won't believe that the "label fell off", if they try that excuse with me. Credo ships their products out in brown cardboard boxes and the label is a sticker placed on the side. On one side of the box is the word "CREDO" stenciled in bold, black letters. On the other is a sticker about the lithium ion battery the iPhone contains. Anyone looking at the outside of the box would probably realize immediately that an expensive electronic device, like an iPhone, is inside.

To put this as plainly as I can: for the label to fall off the box, the box would have had to be torn to pieces!

Much to Credo Mobile's credit, by new iPhone 6s arrived as promised and I am making myself acquainted with it. I made sure to have Credo declare the other iPhone lost or stolen and have it blacklisted.

If it was stolen to be sold on eBay, Craigslist or somewhere else, then whoever sold it is going to have their customer coming back to them for a refund pretty quickly.

I wish I could say that this was my first negative experience with UPS, but it isn't. I won't go into details of my previous problems with them. But, there are some companies that I have stopped buying from because they send their merchandise via United Parcel Service and I won't subject myself again to the poor customer service that I have suffered from that company.

At least two companies from whom I've bought goods have told me that many of their customers have also complained about UPS' service quality.

If I could avoid it, I would never again buy from a company that ships by UPS. Unfortunately, that isn't the case, since there are some purchases I need to make for my job and those companies use UPS exclusively.

So, I'm basically fucked when that happens.


Duane Browning

IRS Impersonator Scam

I received a phone call last year from some scammers impersonating the Internal Revenue Service.

The first call was actually a recorded message, telling me that the IRS had been trying to contact me. The recording informed me that I was the defendant in a lawsuit the IRS was filing against me, I was then notified to call 202-697-9892 to speak to them about it.

I had heard about this scam already, but didn't know the details. I have to admit that I was more than a little afraid. and I had momentarily forgotten that the IRS doesn't notify you of impending legal action against you by calling you on the phone. They always notify by by mail.

Calling them, I spoke to a man calling himself Jordan Belfort and he rattled-off some numbers as his Operator ID. He already knew my mailing address, which made me think the call was legit, as well as the fact that my Caller ID showed the call as originating from Washington DC.

"Jordan" spoke with a great deal of authority over the phone, though his accent made him difficult to understand. When he told me exactly how much I owed, I began to get suspicious. The amount was not particularly large and seemed too small for the IRS to even bother with a lawsuit. Sure, for outright fraud, they'll have you arrested and for money owed, they can seize your assets, but that's usually for large amounts, like in the tens of thousands of dollars. For a few thousand dollars (they claimed I owed about $4000), they'd usually try to set-up a payment plan, if you can't pay it all at once. With interest and penalties attached, of course.

"Jordan" advised me to hire a criminal defense attorney and that is where my doubts began to solidify. Why hire a criminal defense attorney for a civil matter? These are two different fields of Law. While the IRS can and has put people in prison for tax evasion, putting someone like me away wouldn't get them their money. The IRS would actually lose money in the costs of a trial, not to mention my incarceration and they'd never get the money, since I have few assets.

So, I began to get confused, since a real IRS agent would know the difference between criminal and civil matters and why all the fuss over a few grand?

Finally, I decided to see what his reaction would be if I offered to pay it and simply avoid a trial altogether. He then told me that I could settle it out of court, but warned of  my arrest if I didn't.  When I told him that I would contact my attorney and then call him back, he told me right away that, if I hung up, the system would flag my number and a warrant would be issued for me, resulting in Federal and State law enforcement being notified to arrest me.

Okay, the Feds I understand. The IRS is a Federal agency, but why would the Hawaii State Sheriffs get involved? This wasn't a State issue.

In addition to confusion between civil and criminal matters, "Jordan" was obviously unaware of the separation of jurisdictions between State and Federal law enforcement. Neither the Hawaii State Sheriffs or Honolulu Police Department would arrest me for owing money to the IRS. It would be the Treasury agents job.

When I confronted him over the apparent rush, he became defensive. As I calmed-down, I remembered the IRS scam that has been going-on for quite awhile. As I said, I didn't know much about it and I should have. That's on me.

However, I did learn a few things: they have my name, address and telephone number. While their having my name and phone number didn't alarm me, the fact that they have my physical address was more than little scary. They seemed to also know a bit of my tax history. While these could have been guesses, they were disturbingly close and makes me wonder if hackers had infiltrated the IRS database, stole files and sold them on the black market.

I finally told "Jordan" that I believed him to be one of the scammers I had been hearing about, since he wasn't acting like any IRS agent I've ever met. He got very quiet, assuming the jig was up and said "Okay." before hanging-up on me.

I should have Googled the phone number before calling, but the call came at just the right time of my workday when I am most stressed-out and the call pushed me over the edge. Finding confirmation of my suspicions online, I learned that this phone number has been used many times over the past year to carry out this scam. I called the IRS Inspector General to file a report. I also blocked the scammers' number, so they couldn't call me again.

There are dozens of phone numbers associated with this scam. I have done just a little bit of searching and here is a list of what I've found so far:

• 201-406-0000
• 202-754-8420
• 202-766-9713
• 202-580-8150
• 202-506-9828
• 202-492-8816
• 202-468-5896
• 202-459-1993
• 202-413-8901
• 202-640-0113
• 202-751-1163
• 202-320-3853
• 202-470-2879
• 202-697-9197
• 202-864-1791
• 202-800-5631
• 202-470-0142
• 202-657-5868
• 202-506-9044
• 202-239-5947
• 202-697-9892
• 202-803-4318
• 205-315-6049
• 206-317-9184
• 206-462-5024
• 206-488-5864
• 206-451-3624
• 206-347-2217
• 206-319-6368
• 206-319-2965
• 206-488-6870
• 206-204-5553
• 206-201-2024
• 206-488-7405
• 206-488-7807
• 206-495-9583
• 206-866-5895
• 206-905-9687
• 206-922-6126
• 213-141-5163
• 216-242-1287
• 240-523-3767
• 305-432-9583
• 305-713-1042
• 305-676-5752
• 315-704-1315
• 347-783-6863
• 347-349-5244
• 347-944-1193
• 352-453-1081
• 360-359-7712
• 360-209-8907
• 360-200-6829
• 360-347-1794
• 360-851-4838
• 412-203-0114
• 415-800-4078
• 415-358-1618
• 415-900-4372
• 415-937-6881
• 509-643-4382
• 520-955-6201
• 605-550-4956
• 605-440-3495
• 619-548-2875
• 619-324-4087
• 646-740-0186
• 716-206-3218
• 757-254-0365
• 760-269-4504
• 773-786-9513
• 773-796-4967
• 802-766-1834
• 904-210-2543
• 917-310-1424
• 989-858-2734

This list of numbers used by scammers is certainly not complete and it is likely that more numbers are being used everyday. Keeping a list like this current would be impossible.

If you've been contacted by these scammers, you can report them to the Internal Revenue Service by using the IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting link.


Duane Browning