A very suspicious call from Australian Tax (then altered the idenfication to be from the Australian Taxation Officer) requesting initially my dob or address to authenticate information so they could tell me about superannuation matters.

recieved a phone call from someone with an indian sounding accent from 1300852232.  he claimed to be from the ATO and asked my wife to relay a message to me.  message was to contact ATO  Gordon on the above number and I would need my Tax File Number to varify Identity.  Gordon explained it was "nothing drastic" and also requested I return his call outside normal business hours between 6.30 and 8.30.  when i investigated the number I found it is not a registered ATO number and ATO will never ask you for your TFN for identity varification.

My daughter and I both recieved phone calls from this number today the woman asked for my date of birth and I gave it to her I didnt have time to take down details about this phone call it didnt seem suss at the time but when my daughter got home and told me she had the same call I was a bit worried but she called them back , gave her DOB and TFN now we see that it may be a scam is there any way to protect ourselves now that we have given out this info ?

I just had a call from "Pradeep" from the "ATO" - he said he was calling in relation to my superannuation and needed to confirm some details from me. He asked me for my postal address and I asked him which address they had on file and he said he can't give that information to me.  So I got suspicious and I started asking him questions like, "Where did you say you were calling from again?" and he gave me the 1300 852 232 number to ring - googled it and this forum thread came up as the top result.

So, I don't know if it's a scam.  But logic tells me the ATO is far too busy to be ringing up individuals and letting them know about their lost super.  There are plenty of resources for people interested in tracking down their lost super to do it for themselves.  So I won't be calling this number back, and I suggest that nobody else does either.  If you want to know about your super, call the ATO yourself - DON'T rely on these posts saying it's legit - check it out for yourself!

I had this exact same phone call.  The person left a message because i tend not to answer blocked numbers asking me to call the 1300852232.  For some reason the ATO has had my bane listed back to front - last name first and first name last. The caller asked for me like that -= (last name then Greg) so whoever it was had acces to my ATO information.  

I rang the ATO and after a while they were able to confirm that the person who called does work for them, is based in Adelaide and has tried to call me before (it was listed on my file) and that it was in reference to my super-annuation.  

As with anything like this it is always better to be sure than to be sorry - I really don't know why the ATO are putting the wind up people like this. If you do get a call like this and you're in doubt their legitimacy,  get a ref no. off them and call the ATO yourself on the listed number

REPORT ITS HAPPENING AGAIN: SCAM ALERT....Just had a voice message from ATO and they told me 2 call them back with my tax details on 1300852232. I googled the number and so many pages came up saying it's a scam. Be careful they called on a blocked number and told me to call them back. DONT GIVE ANY DETAILS TO 1300 852232 SCAM...

Well these clowns must still be operating. They left a message on my answering machine saying they were the ATO and to call them back on 1300852232. Well I just rang the ATO using their normal phone number and they have confirmed that that number is not one of theirs and nor do they have any outstanding enquiries about me.

I had a phone call yesterday claiming that it's from ATO. Lucky that I was not at home so my housemate took it and asking me to ring back this 1300 number WITH MY TFN. I was at first thought that I was getting audited but didn't agree it was logical because being audited, you always receive a letter from ATO not a phone call asking you send your information to them. Plus, I got so little tax refund last year and I work for the gov. So I run through this number on google to see if it lights up anywhere. I was lucky to find this info. I will ring back on Monday via their normal phone number and find out. Meanwhile, if it'sregarding to lost super, it would make sense because I have never rolled over my super since I started working for the gov. So I would have had some money sitting in my super. But the whole idea of being contacted by  phone rather than a letter in the mail... scares me... I'd rather not give out any info till I physically speak to someone who sitting at the counter.

I Just had the call tonight.  I guess they called the wrong number as I have tracked the caller to their address and reported them.  It will take a while, but eventually all parties linked to this criminal act will be tracked down.

The post is from a fellow criminal!

You sir are a complete idiot! It's a legitimate number, if you ever had doubts just ring the ATO number in the whitepages and confirm with the operator. Had a call a few weeks back and they found some Super for me, gave the superfunds a call and what do you know, I had Super sitting Lost in a an account that I had totally forgot. You idiots complain when the ATO takes your money but say its a scam when they find u $. If you don't want it, give it to me.

I rang the tax office today after receiving such a call and asked if the phone number was legit, she said yes and it had something to do with lost super. The easiest thing to do before calling the number 1300 852 232 is to call the ATO yourself to confirm. That way you know if you are being scammed or not. And for the people on here who said we we scammers ourselves for saying it was a legit number...whatever!! Ring the ATO their number is on their website and find out for yourselves.
Cheers.

Just had a voicemail left on my work phone (didnt even know they had my work number) with the same msg you have all got, with a msg to call Andy on 1300 85 22 32.

Dont know what to believe! will be calling the normal ATO number of their website.

Oh, and what is Central time??

This number is correct. The ATO called due to my super. As I had changed address recently some mail had been returned. I had since changed my address but I was stll marked as lost and sent to the ATO.

Hi Andy,

Same things happened to me today. So, did you call them back? Because i was asking them if this is a prank call and  a guy (Indian accent) told me 'you can call us back at 1300 85 22 32'.

You don't need to panic!

The ATO has a huge backlog of calls to make regarding superannuation. You can request a letter be sent on the tax office letter head requesting that you contact them if that makes you more sure of it.

if you do call the number, you'll speak to someone at the tax office - that is verified by hearing the official message.

It's worth a call!

Shame there is such mixed messages in this thread, as it makes it confusing.  

I rang the ATO after receiving call from supposed ATO guy (John Leung) but didn't give out info and asked for dial back number (which he gave as 1300 852 232). Being suspicious, I rang the ATO Super line (13 10 20) and they had no record of the contact or awareness of the 1300 number.

Smells like a scam to me... even if they can tell you about your lost super, which you helped them to find by providing all your details!  You can do this by the ATO web site's Super Seeker...

I work for the ATO on this campaigne. Yes we work weeknights, yes we work overtime - including public holidays.

On Anzac day a voice message was left by a caller purporting to be from the Australian Tax Office, asking me to call 1300 85 22 32.  I called next morning to find this a bona fide ATO number, after identifying myself I was advised about some lost superannuation accounts that had been added to the ATO Lost Super registry. All is good. Peace

Also got a call from 1300852232 sounded dodgy to me also.

Called tonight at 8pm (outside office hours) claiming to be the Australian Taxation Office. Left message saying I would need to ring back with my tax file number. Seems like it could be an identity theft scam. The phone number left is not listed on the Australian Tax Office site.

Called at 6.05 pm very unsure person didn't seem to know what they were takling about - want tax details etc. claim to be from the tax office seems very suspicious to me

1300852232 claiming to be the tax office.
They just rang me today 11 may 2010 at about 10:25am Canberra time. They wanted to talk to my wife about passing on some information to her. It all sounded a little odd so here I am checking if its a scam or not.

Ok, this scam gets better.  I did receive a letter pro porting to be from the ATO. It had my address and tfn. It said I had lost super with Australian Super. I am a member of Australian Super and am currently making contributions to them.  I looked up the Superseeker site and I do not have any lost accounts. The ATO deputy commissioner listed is actually the chief operating officer, Paul Duffus.

I suspect there has been a data breach at Australian Super.

This has to be a sophisicated scam.

Ok, I received the same phone call from a lady late this afternoon claiming to be from the ATO. And after a quick google I've been led to a number of these “Unknown Caller” forums.

A few things to note...

1) I've never once been cold called or unsolicited by the ATO in my entire life as an Australian citizen.

2) This number doesn’t appear to be listed anywhere on either the ATO or the SuperSeeker websites.

3) If the ATO wanted to inform me of lost super (or anything else for that matter) they would do this by mail.

4) Lastly, I'm also very suspicious of some of the comments I've seen from people either claiming to be from the ATO or that this number is somehow linked to the ATO's lost super program i.e. this is an anonymous forum and is not linked to the ATO in anyway. And these messages could be coming from anyone e.g. the scammers themselves, or simply miss-informed people.

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With that in mind and contra to the feedback claiming this number is somehow linked to the ATO lost super program, I won't be calling them back. And I certainly won't be giving out my TFN or any other personal details over the phone unsolicited i.e. ever period.

To follow this up, next Monday I plan to ring the ATO's scam department directly to find out more about this mysterious 1300 number. FYI their contact details are listed on the ATO website under “Contact Us - Report a Scam”. So if your still in doubt I would recommend calling them first and not the 1300 number.

Lastly you can check the ATO's “SuperSeeker”website if you ever want to search for lost super.

I got the same message, and gave the ATO Feedback and complaints (1800 199 010) number a call. The first thing the ATO asks is for you to input your tax file number, so don't believe it has to be a scam just because you have to give out your TFN. I spoke to a rep and they confirmed that IT IS A ATO NUMBER. Instead of just leaving a "it's a scam" message on this forum, give the ATO a call and put your mind to rest. P.S. have a think, have you changed your job in the last 5 years and not rolled your super over?

If you ever get a phonecall from someone claming to be from the ATO ALWAYS simply say to them "i own a horse" and then hang up. this will prevent them from calling you ever again.

I have received 2 of these calls, one message and one that I answered. I am cautious because I know that identity fraud is getting bigger in oz... They claim it is about lost super and may even have useful information which they retrieve from the ATO website, but their call back number is not listed any where on the ATO website...a 13 number is listed, not a 1300 number.
As many people are suggesting, NEVER GIVE OUT PERSONAL INFORMATION TO ANYONE WHO CANNOT PROVE WHO THEY ARE.

Rang me too at my work number on a Saturday and left a message. I never give out details over the phone anyway if somebody calls me, and it seems that I definitely won't be returning this call.

I rang the tax office enquiries number, 13 28 69. Give them a call and they will confirm that it is the ATO calling. Look up the website, ato.gov.au for self-assurance.

It was about lost superannuation.