Yesterday I got a phone call from an out of state number with a South Dakota area code. The caller claimed to be a collection agency saying I owed the state of Georgia $830 in state taxes from 2004. They had my name and my gourmet address in Georgia.
I no longer live in Georgia, but did so up until 2005. I went through a nasty divorce in 2005, but this is the first I’ve heard of owing back taxes. The caller then went on to say they would garnish my washes and size my bank accounts. Seemed fishy to me that this is the first I’ve heard of this in 11 years. How they got my cell number is beyond me, the account is in my wife’s name and her last name is different than mine.
So, is this a known scam of some kind? Very strange.
No, nothing from the state of Georgia. That’s why I ended the call before I got any payment options. I find it hats to believe that the state of Georgia would farm or collections to a company in South Dakota.
There’s a pretty common scam that I’ve gotten [calls for] a couple of times that is a clearly-not-from America person calling from clearly-not-the-IRS with a random Caller ID (like “Washington State”) to tell me that I need to call so-and-so back at this number because I owe taxes and if I don’t, they will call the police and I will be arrested. I have told them that’s cool, go ahead.
So far, no police.
I agree with Cat Whisperer - with this scam and with any other “cold call” you get, it’s always best to call the agency directly to find out what’s up.
Tax agencies usually try to work something out with the debtor. Even getting $20-$50 a month satisfies them as an acknowledgment of debt and a plan to pay it off. And the *never call you *on the phone. Threatening phone calls about taxes are a signal that it is a scam. There is an IRS phone scam sweeping my area were they demand payment and threaten that the police will be called if you do not go get some prepaid money cards and read them the numbers, total scam but many people fall for it.
If it has been 11 years that debt has been sold several times. That is assuming that it is a valid debt. They probably do not even have any back-up documentation of the original debt.
Say that the debt is valid and it was originally $1000. It has probably been sold so many times that the current debt collectors bought it for $50 and will try to get the original amount.
Check your credit score to see if in fact this debt is shown, if it is a scam it won’t be there. Collection agencies are not known for ethical practices. I would monitor my credit score and offer no more communication with this collection agency, they are on a fishing expedition.
I hate it when they get my gourmet address and threaten to garnish my washes and size my bank accounts.
Thanks, it’s a combination of big fingers, small phone and almost 50 year old eye sight. I keep meaning to preview, but I always hit the part button. My apologies to those who have to decipher my ramblings. :o
The state of Ohio contacted me several years after I had left the state and told me that I had failed to file taxes for ten years and they calculated that I owed them something like $6000. I in turn showed them that they owed me a return for each of those years and they ended up sending me a check for $2200.
But they contacted me through official mail from the Secretary of State’s office, not just some blind call on the phone. I can’t see a state letting some collection agency share in there take, that’s what they have all of those state workers for in the tax department. They want it all. I of course, pissed them off to no end.
It’s vaguely possible the debt is legit, but deal with the state not a cold-calling collections agency. I got a call similar to OPs for a tax debt owed to a Virginia county. I had never heard anything from the county about it. I refused to deal with them and instead called the county. The county didn’t want to talk to me about it, they said it was in collection’s hands now. I told them they were asking for the money and I was going to deal with them. I finally got it straightened out and the debt was released/forgiven.
I once got official-looking mail warning me that I owed $$ to some third party for an unpaid utility bill from a state I moved away from a couple years previously.
Fortunately we are pack rats about old bills and statements and were able to fish out receipts from that period showing we had indeed paid our utility bills for the period in question, and sent copies (with checking account/credit card numbers redacted) to the scammer, who never bothered us again.
I would never pay anything to any company or state agency without good documentation from the firm/agency in question, even if they had my accurate gourmet address.*
*I presume you have your supplies of Pringles and Boone’s Farm wine sent to a separate address.
That part actually is believable, but not much else about the call is since you have never heard from the state directly in all these years. I do remember hearing somewhere that Georgia was, until very recently, one of the easiest and quickest states in the nation to submit a fraudulent tax return in or to get a refund you are not entitled to. My advice would be to look into that possibility, since if someone stole your identity to do this they might be trying this with other states as well.
God luck trying to garnish my wages, I’m Social Security Disabled since a workplace accident yen years ago. Federal law, iirc, prohibits garnishment of disability funds.
I find it hard to believe that a state would sell its collectibles to a collection agency. If you did own taxes, you’d get a letter from the state informing you of this, not a phone call from a bill collector.
Another thing: 2004 is a long time ago. I don’t know about the state of Georgia, but there’s a statute of limitations of seven years for most tax issues. I doubt that any state would try to collect unpaid taxes from eleven years ago.
Also, a collection agency doesn’t have the power to seize your bank accounts.
It sounds to me like some scammer got a little bit of information about you and is trying to scare you into sending money. Don’t do it.
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