I received a call from this number just now, but when I answered and said Hello, all I heard was gibberish or a foreign language which didn't seem to make any sense, it seemed they were unable to hear me - the voice was male and funnily enough, my mother [who turned 87 today] received the same phone call at 1:40 this morning - she at first thought it may have been family from overseas [in a different time zone] who had called to wish her happy birthday but by the time she got out of bed to answer the call, they had left their "msg" on the answering machine - when I played it back later this morning, it was very similar to the call I received just now. Needless to say my 87 yr old mum found this call to be both upsetting and unsettling and certainly gave a bad start to her birthday today. I also have received the calls from the supposed ATO re tax return problems and have totally ignored them as I knew they were dodgy.

This is a scam to get your tax file number so someone overseas can get into Australia. Id call that an act of terrorism so it has been reported to the ACCC on 8 May 2015.

My phone is being traced and this caller came from 'OVERSEAS' claiming to be the ATO/CDPP with a slightly different male recording voice in a more urgent message giving false information that you are being prosecuted for fraud. Ive been disabled for over 10 years so i dont do a tax return, so it GENUINELY A SCAMMER. My telephone company was able to trace this call and in fact showed up as 'OVERSEAS' caller.. so not the Australian Tax Office.

The first time they called on the 8th May, the trace showed up as a 'PRIVATE NUMBER'. The same male recorded voice gave a similar message that came across as 'less urgent' for you to hand over your TFN to a complete SCAMMER. The number then i was given back then to call was (02) 6145 2529. DO NOT CALL THIS NUMBER EITHER. IGNORE THE CALLS. ITS A SCAM. Type the above number ((02) 6145 2529) and you will get the same message but in reverse Australia. Have a nice day.

Got this as a recorded message yesterday and looked it up. Then today had a "market research" company asking is we had pets, what were our pets names, our exact ages, our incomes to the nearest 10k, who was the main breadwinner, what was our education level, was someone home constantly, what was out postcode.... I gave them a lot of BS.

flatmate did his tax with a so called home accountant this idiot calls us once a week to harass us dont answer. these people are scum

Two phone calls today from this number, 8 minutes apart, stating to be from the Taxation Office and that we were guilty of tax evasion etc. etc. Obviously a scam and dodgy.

Got a message on my land line asking me to call urgently the ATO as there was a claim against me. When I called, the line rung out or was busy. I then decide to go online and search for this number and I've found out this is a scam. Do not call back!!!

I got a call on my answering machine from this mob pretending to be from the office of the ATO/CDPP. Obviously a mob of tossers. Not worth my time worrying about them.

Ive just received the ph call from this number... I deleted the massage, but the way they put the massage down could possibly get people to panic and call them back... DONT DO IT! They threatened us saying our tax was incorrect and that a law suit was in progress, and that we needed to call the immediately...even saying, don't waste anytime, call straight away!!

Just had the same message sent to my 75 year old mother & left a message. Very upsetting for her & when tried to ring number busy...I since found this info with confirms what I suggested..scum!

If you are unsure about this number claiming to be the ATO, follow the advice in the below ATO website link:

https://www.ato.gov.au/general/online-services/online-security/how-to-report-a-scam/

Someone claiming to be from the ATO yet when I returned the call got a bunch of obscene questions and comments. Pretty sure someone from the ATO wouldn't want to come to my home and lick my cat

I believe the call from this number is a scam. I received a recorded message saying the caller was from the Australian Taxation Office and that there was a lawsuit in progress against me for a matter of fraud and that i needed to call back the above number.

i called the number back after 6pm EST and the phone was answered with "Australian Taxation Office, [name] speaking" and when i said i was returning a call they then said "it's after 6 o'clock, call back tomorrow".

I went online to check for scams regarding ATO calls and supposed lawsuits and the proper ATO website has info on this. there is a scam going on around this.

Advice is that if you get a similar call, ask the caller for their name and tell them you will call them back via the official ATO switchboard on 13 28 69. under no circumstances give these scammers any of your details.