I received a call from 888-203-7734 a few days ago. Rather, my mother received the call to her home number and took a message from Dan (who was INCREDIBLY rude to her in the process.) I called the number back this evening. The entity in question goes by Van Ru Credit Corporation. They claim that they are seeking to collect on a debt. The first several calls went nowhere fast when I refused to verify that I was indeed who I was because I was skeptical. So to humor myself I decided to play ball with them for a while and here is what I got after an hour of repeated calls and round and rounds with these folks. The first red flagwas that the address(es) that they have on file are the street address that I lived at over 9 years ago but listed as a city that I lived in approximately 6 years ago (which struck me as very bizarre.) I did confirm the last 4 of my SS# in order to get more out of them much to my dismay. However, when I asked for their federal tax ID number to verify that they were a legit business, Dan refused to give me any further information and terminated the call again. So, refusing to give up, I called back and spoke with someone that wasn't Dan (I didn't write his name down unfortunately.) Their claim was that they were calling in reference to a 2010 Tax filing year issue claiming that I owed the Illinois Department of Revenue roughly $1200 and also were "kind" enough to give me the number directly to the IDoR (1-217-785-5212). Upon calling that number I received an outgoing voicemail message stating that the offices were closed with the hours that I would be available to call back. The second red flag went up when the hours that were listed in the message were not the same as the ones listed online on the IDoR's website nor was this magical telephone number that they gave me. So I decided to give ol' VanRu Credit Corp. of Des Plaines, IL another call back to get some additional information. Bethany S. was not willing to answer any of my questions and reccomended that I talk with her supervisor. I finally ended up speaking with Latashie (the aforementioned supervisor) that explained to me that the number was "Our direct internal phone number to assist you better" even though the voice on the outbound message sounded incredibly similar to a gentleman that I had spoken with earlier and just polishing his voice to sound more professional. I questioned her why if I owed the DoR close to 1200 why did they not have my correct and current information? If the Illinois Department of Revenue clearly wanted to settle a debt they would have had my current information. I have lived at the current address for multiple years now and have filed taxes every year, registered my vehicle and am a registered voter. Her reply was that it was simply the information that they were provided on the account. Third red flag, it dawned on me during the call that during the year in question I was laid off for the majority of the year, collected unemployment and paid taxes out of my unemployment checks directly. The more questions I asked the more combative and agitated they seemed to become. I got hung up on frequenty over the hour that I was trying to get some answers. The final red flag was the fact that of the 13-14 times that I called them only 3 different people ever answered the phone until I got to speak to Latashie. I managed Qualty Assurance in a call center for several years. I'm pretty sure that an organization that is working collections for a government organization has more than 4 employees on duty at peak call times. By the end of the conversation Latashie informed me that they were both blocking and removing my number and my mother's number from their database. I'm fairly certain that this is a very elaoborate scam designed to bilk the unsuspecting and unquestioning out of lots of money. I will be investigating this further tomorrow when both the IDoR and the 217 number they gave me are open for business. I will also be contacting the State's Attorney's office on this matter and will seek criminal charges against them for both harrasment and fraud if necessary. I will try to remember to post an update once I have obtained more information. Be aware and be informed. DO NOT set up a payment plan with this, or any, company until you have gotten satisfactory answers to all of your questions and know that it is indeed a legit debt collection company.

Your identity may have been compromised. Our personal identifying information is out there to be hacked, stolen and sold on the internet black market by criminals running extortion scams. This is one of many receiving extensive coverage by the MSM and the IRS:

WASHINGTON ? The Internal Revenue Service today warned consumers about a sophisticated phone scam targeting taxpayers, including recent immigrants, throughout the country.

Victims are told they owe money to the IRS and it must be paid promptly through a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer. If the victim refuses to cooperate, they are then threatened with arrest, deportation or suspension of a business or driver?s license. In many cases, the caller becomes hostile and insulting.

?This scam has hit taxpayers in nearly every state in the country.  We want to educate taxpayers so they can help protect themselves.  Rest assured, we do not and will not ask for credit card numbers over the phone, nor request a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer,? says IRS Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel. ?If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from the IRS and threatens police arrest, deportation or license revocation if you don?t pay immediately, that is a sign that it really isn?t the IRS calling.? Werfel noted that the first IRS contact with taxpayers on a tax issue is likely to occur via mail
Other characteristics of this scam include:
Scammers use fake names and IRS badge numbers. They generally use common names and surnames to identify themselves.
Scammers may be able to recite the last four digits of a victim?s Social Security Number.
Scammers spoof the IRS toll-free number on caller ID to make it appear that it?s the IRS calling.
Scammers sometimes send bogus IRS emails to some victims to support their bogus calls.
Victims hear background noise of other calls being conducted to mimic a call site.
After threatening victims with jail time or driver?s license revocation, scammers hang up and others soon call back pretending to be from the local police or DMV, and the caller ID supports their claim.
If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here?s what you should do:
If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue ? if there really is such an issue.
If you know you don?t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, you?ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484.
If you?ve been targeted by this scam, you should also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their ?FTC Complaint Assistant? at FTC.gov.  Please add "IRS Telephone Scam" to the comments of your complaint.
Taxpayers should be aware that there are other unrelated scams (such as a lottery sweepstakes) and solicitations (such as debt relief) that fraudulently claim to be from the IRS.
The IRS encourages taxpayers to be vigilant against phone and email scams that use the IRS as a lure. The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information.  This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels. The IRS also does not ask for PINs, passwords or similar confidential access information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts. Recipients should not open any attachments or click on any links contained in the message. Instead, forward the e-mail to phishing@irs.gov.

More information on how to report phishing scams involving the IRS is available on the genuine IRS website, IRS.gov.

http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Warns-of-Pervasive-Telephone-Scam

I just received a call from this number. They know the last four digit of my SSN and know the street name I used to live. They said I filed the IL state tax wrongly and owed them some $800. Finally they asked for my card number but I refused. So he said he would call me back. Then I call the number shown on the official website of Illinois Department of Revenue, the business hotline, and the person who answered said they did hire this company (the 888 203 7734). After viewing the report above, I still believe this is a fraud call. It is very weird how they got my SSN.

Stop the calls or I will call FDCPA.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/Van-Ru-Credit-Corperation/Skokie-Illinois-60076-8027/Van-Ru-Credit-Corporation-Rude-harassing-nasty-people-Many-violations-of-the-FDCPA-ri-163777

To date, I've received two voice mails from this number.  Called back the 2nd time (after reading all of these posts) and was transfered to "who called me".  I asked repeatedly for the name of the company (they were saying it so fast) and refused to verify any information until someone could spell the name of the company - Vanru Credit Corporation - calling to collect a debt from the Illinois Department of Revenue from 2012.  I told them that I would contact IL Department of Revenue myself and asked them to not call again.  Scam?  I'm thinking so, and I'm definitely not going to verify my SSN!!

Calls several times a day and there's an automated message that asks for me by name and to push 1. Then a live person comes on and immediately asks for the last for of my social security number to "verify my identity. " I told them I wasn't comfortable doing that when I didn't know ow who they were so they asked if I ever lived at an address they gave me. I said no and they acted surprised and went back to the social. I refused and hung up. They wouldn't tell me who they were or what they wanted?? Sketchy.

Got a call from this number pretending to be the IRS.

calls once every other day early in the morning. never leaves a message. I won't answer.

this telephone number called a client of mine demanding back taxes owed to the IL Dept of Rev. Which was no true at all.! Please be-careful out there..!

Called this # and found out it's a debt collection agency, thanks to my friends at the IL dept of Rev. They verified who they were by giving my the last 4 digits of my ss#.

I callled them back and offer my pubic hair to pay whatever debt they claim I owe, they hung up on me how sad :(

I'm getting call from this number since Sep 2012 almost once a week. Asking "can I talk to Cladia?" I replied that this is a wrong number, and it's a business phone number. I replied same when they call. Very annoying.

Missed a call from this "company" earlier today, and called back.  Immediately the man was irate with us demanding that before he tell us who he's collecting a debt for or what it's even about that we confirm our address and social security number.  When we refused before he confirmed who he was, he only interrupted and interrupted and interrupted - only aggressive and REALLY belligerent.  He hung up. We called again - the same man answered.  I asked, are you the only one who works there?  No, he said, there are others, but clearly he's the only one.  I told him he clearly doesn't want to collect any debt since he's so belligerent.  He told us we'd be sorry.  The thing was, we couldn't figure out what on earth he was talking about - we have no debt.

I received a call from 888 203 7734 and the person on the other end of the line said he was calling from
Van Ru Credit, a company with which I was familiar. Of course, I am checking the number online and I'm going to call the number before I share any private info.

i got a phone call from this number asking for my husband.  i called back from my phone and they didn't answer so i called back from a different phone and they answered.  it sounded like a scam so i hung up after they answered.

My wife answered the phone and a  man asked for me ( Ignacio Lopez) my wife  asked who was calling the man just kept asking for Ignacio Lopez. My wife stated I am his wife How can I help you and the man just kept asking for me ( Ignacio Lopez) he wouldn't identify himself or what company he was representing.
He refused to answer my wifes questions and hung up. She attempted to call the number back and all she got was some strange music, she waited for about 10 minutes and no one answered.

I got a call from this number yesterday. When I told them I would be contacting the company they said I owed money to and the guy told me "good luck with that" and hung up!

I missed a call from this number today and I called it back. They answered and said hello is this ***** ****** ? I said yes it is and what can I do for you ? The man on the other end said " before I can talk to you about this business I have to have your social security number "...... End of game ! I hung up and now am blocking the number.

LET ME KNOW WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT ..... THE FEDS NEED TO CHECK THIS OUT ASAP ..THANKS

I RECIEVED A CALL FROM THE SAME NUMBER AND I VERIFIED THAT I DONT OWE ANYONE ANY MONEY .....BEWARE........

I just received message from 888-203-7734 stating that this is debt collector unable to recognize the name talking to fast