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Return to Article: Recording raises questions about tax collection calls

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  wow, im a collector and about 90% of our conversations are like this but mostly everyone feels comfortable verifying their address, the debtors are trying to be on the safe side but the collector already has every bit of "personal" info about them even if they do want to be stubborn and go deeper in debt. Leaving short brief messages like that only makes sense, i mean would you return a call if you knew it was for a past due bill..of course not.

  jamie stunt Posted October 4, 2007 12:18 AM
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  Someone's getting a nice hefty raise to keep this alive, and someone else is getting a nice chunk of change to run it. Didn't one of our RO's or some upper level exec retire and start up one of these in Texas?

  If they were so worried about Homeland Security, outsourcing would not be an issue. I'm more worried about my privacy...you don't know who these people are, and they're cold calling? IRS should at least send them a letter informing them that the account has been turned over to a private collection company, but that's like doing right.

  Same old IRS, more worried about looking good than doing right.

  Lynn Brown Posted June 12, 2007 6:25 PM
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  Well, Tip Off. As a Contract Administrator as far as I can tell the only function that is still considered inherently governmental is the incompetence of our elected officials.

  K D Posted June 7, 2007 4:33 PM
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  So, that's who keeps calling me. I won't even answer the phone let alone give out my SSN, address, or any other information that you want. If you don't know me, then I don't need to know you. If I owe taxes, you better write me a letter from IRS, and you'll be lucky if I write you back.

  PD Posted May 29, 2007 12:49 PM
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  Wow. This amazes me. Didn't the IRS issue a warning of scam using these EXACT tactics a couple of years ago? Didn't they swear that it was against their procedures to do "cold calls" and warned against giving out SSN's?

  Call me "Confused" but I agree J.M., other than the fact that this same training went well beyond IT. It went all the way to being in our annual User OPSEC training. Everyone who touched a computer on this fort was required to take and validate training on operational security that included disposition of sensitive materials; SSNs and privacy information include!

  Now, y'all correct me if I'm wrong (which you often do), but I thought that there was a clause in the A-76 process that precluded contracting of "inherently governmental functions". Is that the case? If not, okay, perhaps I can understand all this and only the procedure needs to be changed but ... Please tell me if there is there ANYTHING more "inherently governmental" than the levying and collection of taxes?! I thought that was what led to our being an independent nation in the first place.

  Tea, anyone?

  Tip off Posted May 29, 2007 11:31 AM
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  About two years ago, I started getting recorded calls about some money that someone said that I owed. The calls gave me a name and 1-800 to call. When I called, I got the name of the company and a address. However since the address was in Chicago, there was nothing that I could do to check it out. They wanted all types of information about me to see if I was the one that they were trying to reach! I told them that I wouldn't give them any information about me, until I knew that they were good guys. So I asked for their personal data, Driver's license number, SS number and asked for copies of these documents to be sent to General Delivery at my local Post Office, and that I would check them out first with my local PD and then get back to them.

  They refused.

  After that they called again and I called back, but their answering machine said that they closed down at 3 pm Chicago time on Saturdays and didn't reopen up until 9 am on Monday. But I didn't believe that answering machine, since they called me after 3 pm Chicago time on Saturday, so I kept on calling them back, every couple of minutes from Saturday afternoon until late Sunday night.

  And everytime that they called me up, after their normal business hours, I called and called each time leaving a long message about how I would never give out personal information, until they gave me the same data about them.

  After a week or so, they quit calling.

  All we have to do, is call back again and again and ask them to identify themselves first and see who they are. They will quit calling after a while, it might take a couple of hundred calls to their answering machine, but Saturday afternoon during the commercial in whatever we are watching, call back. Have friends call for you, have your kids repeat into the phone the same data. Just keep on calling and leaving messages for them to go though on Monday morning. And they will stop calling you up!

  Dave Posted May 25, 2007 1:08 PM
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  The IRS should be destroyed, removed from existence and replaced with a consumption tax. Any organization that requires a citizen to spend hours upon hours or many dollars to determine how much they "owe" is assinine and deserves to be destroyed.

  Morton Posted May 25, 2007 9:37 AM
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  The Fairtax would eliminate this problem. Educate yourselves.

  Eric Posted May 25, 2007 8:36 AM
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  I was in the A-76 contracting out by the Department of Labor, and my position Was contracted out to a private contractor. The company sent out a person who didn't qualify at all she didn't use a typewriter and couldn't figure out how to turn it on. In that position I handled Privacy Act information and this is what government agencies have to do for Bush. We MUST stop this process.

  denise Posted May 24, 2007 6:00 PM
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  If I were a scammer, I would leave a message indicating that I was calling on behalf of an IRS debt. The panic-stricken recipient would return the call post-haste to clear up the matter.

  At that point I would feign looking for a folder and get the identifying info from the caller.

  I would imagine this procedure would successfully fool a lot of people.

  Lisa Posted May 24, 2007 2:19 PM
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  Receiving an unsolicited/unexpected phone call + asking for my Social Security number or other personal information = me reporting the incident to law enforcement as a potential fraud/scam incident. The IRS, whether of its own initiative or with some "help" from Congress, should develop and implement a better process to address security concerns.

  Daniel Posted May 24, 2007 11:53 AM
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  I worked for the IRS (in Labor/Employee Relations) for 10 years, ending in 2000. The IRS used to be very careful with taxpayer information, severely disciplining employees who breached confidentiality. To turn over taxpayer records to a private company for collection seems contrary to the protection of taxpayer information. It is simply inviting identity theft without recourse for taxpayers.

  Roz Posted May 24, 2007 11:48 AM
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  Wow, the transcript of the call is pretty freaky. Working in IT, you learn that you don't give out personal information unless you want your identity stolen. If I hadn't known the context of the calls via this article, I would have said the transcript is a perfect example of scammers using social engineering tactics to get you to reveal personal information.

  The idea of outsourcing tax debt to debt collectors is utterly insane. I was reading recently that the number one category of complaints to the BBB's is -- you guessed it -- debt collectors. I, for one, have had my own run-ins. I have a very common name and I get calls from debt collectors every month or so trying to collect on debts that other people with the same name as me have incurred. The only time I ignored the calls, the deputy sheriff called me to say there was a warrant for my arrest! For a debt I didn't owe! Freaky!

  J.M. Posted May 24, 2007 11:45 AM
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  The process of collecting deliquent taxes should NEVER have been outsourced to a contract company. I heard the phone calls; they are harrassment on the part of a unknown company. I wouldn't give out my information either. Plus, I would probably get very angry. If I receive a letter from the IRS, I will open it. Letters from unknown companies are normally shredded and trashed. I don't know what person came up with the "brilliant" idea of outsourcing collecting delinquent federal taxes; the idea stinks. Plus, the gives these companies access to information that normally they would not be allowed to see. This is "ripe" for identity theft - a big problem today. Outsourcing was tried before and failed. Why would anyone think it would work now?

  JoAnn Posted May 24, 2007 10:41 AM
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  Phone calls? The IRS has enough information at their disposal to send written communications (which can then be verified by the taxpayer by contacting IRS themselves). They also generally have enough info to garnish wages and other payments sent to recipients as simple methods of collection. I believe that these matters should be handled by the IRS, handled more appropriately, and not contracted out to third parties for collection. People want to deal with their own Government on Government matters.

  Steve Warren Posted May 24, 2007 10:15 AM
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  Any unidentified person who calls me and asks me to return the call regarding "personal business" isn't going to get a call back. And the fact that ANYONE would provide a social security number or any other information to an unidentified person who refuses to state why it is asked for is seriously scary. The fact that, in this day of identity theft, any government agency would expect someone to cooperate in this kind of situation is even more scary. The only reason it makes sense is that it is commission based - so if they don't collect any money, they don't get paid.

  Any time an unknown person calls me three times, regardless of how pleasant they are, is harassment. If I don't call them back, I don't want to talk to them. That's pretty simple.

  Judith Deane Posted May 24, 2007 7:43 AM