- Scam
- Spam
The number 02 6100 3029 has been reported by numerous users as a scam claiming to be from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). This article discusses how to identify and respond to such calls effectively.
Understanding the Dangerous Scam Behind 02 6100 3029
The phone number 02 6100 3029 / 0261003029 has raised significant concern among Australians, as it has been consistently reported as a scam operation purporting to represent the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Users have described aggressive tactics including threats of legal action and arrest, aimed at extracting personal information and money under the guise of unpaid taxes.
Scam Characteristics
Based on user reviews, the operation appears to function as follows:
- Threatening Messages: Callers claim to be from the ATO, suggesting that an urgent legal matter requires immediate attention. Common phrases include threats of arrest if payments are not made.
- Automated Calls: Many users report receiving calls from a robotic or computer-generated voice, which adds an air of impersonality and urgency to the scam.
- Persistent Follow-Up Calls: Reports indicate that subjects often receive multiple calls in a short timeframe, contributing to a heightened sense of anxiety and pressure to respond.
- Requests for Personal Information: Scammers often involve requests for sensitive details or immediate payments, leading to financial loss for many unsuspecting victims.
User Experiences and Reports
As seen from various community reviews, numerous individuals have had harrowing experiences with this number. Many reports highlight the similarity in tactics: callers using an authoritative tone, with claims related to tax audits or outstanding debts that do not exist. Some users reported providing personal details before realising the scam, leading to identity theft or unauthorised access to bank accounts.
How to Protect Yourself
If you receive a call from 02 6100 3029 / 0261003029 or a similar number:
- Do Not Engage: Avoid providing any personal or financial information. Hang up immediately if you feel it’s a scam.
- Verify Claims: Independently contact the ATO directly using a legitimate contact number found on their official website to verify any claims.
- Report the Call: Alert local authorities or report the incident to the ACCC Scamwatch. Providing details helps track and isolate fraudsters.
- Block the Number: Many mobile phones and landlines now offer call-blocking features. Implement these to mitigate future harassment.
Conclusion
The increasing reports about 02 6100 3029 / 0261003029 illustrate a troubling trend of taxation scams targeting vulnerable citizens. Maintaining awareness and caution can prove pivotal in protecting yourself from these nefarious schemes. For those wishing to perform a Reverse Phone Lookup in Australia, services like Reverseau can be beneficial to avoid potential scams, helping Australians discern who called them.
Help others by sharing your experience with (02) 6100 3029!
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What Our Users Reviewed
A lady robot left a message on my machine regarding a "federal violation" .my first thought was it was a scam. So I went to the Internet real quick to check the number. It was certainly a scam!
Exactly the same thing happened to me a few moments ago (30/11/15), but from this number (02) 6100 7709 - also a recorded message from a robotic John Smith.
Good try Mr Smith!
I too had a hoax call number 02 6100 3008. It's a big scam. Never happened to me before. Worth reporting it.
Just had a mate cold called by this guy. Threatenning him to give over credit card details.
Reporting him to AFP now.
Probably little can be done but anyone reading this SCAM ALERT!!! Never give out details to anyone over the phone.
I had two calls earlier in the week and a missed one today that left a recorded message to drop everything and call back to ask for John Smith from the ATO Crime Squad. The number they called from was 02 6100 3008. I am quite confident that the ATO would write in the first instance, when was the last time you ever heard of a government employee ever picking up the phone to ring you about any issue, it's just not in their DNA! Scam for sure so I will delete and ignore it.
Called me Yesterday. Hang up when answered.
Called today. Hung when not answered.
Called again and left Computer Voice Message.
"This is the ATO. Time sensitive issue. Put work aside and immediately attend to this issue. If you don't call immediately or your Attorney (lol)...
Call Officer John Smith (lol)...
Great to be able to share and thus not worry about this stuff.
Hoax phone calls from ATO.
Just got a call from a number "0261003029", a guy told me it is from ATO (Australian Taxation Office). And looking at my five years tax record my account has been red flagged and I need to pay $3.000 to settle the dispute. (I was like WTF?).
When asked for detail reason I was red flagged he said he can not provide further details. The case will be forwarded to crime division of its not settled now. (LOL).
Generously, I was given the option to take this matter to court if I don't want to pay now to settle the dispute. As soon as I told him I want to take this to court he hung up the phone!!!!
Same guy just rang me pretending to be the ATO Faud Devision. Apparently I need to pay $4000 immediately of I will get "taken to court, thrown in jail and have to pay a $45.000 fine". When I said I wouldn't pay it without seeing any documentation, he said the police will come around to arrest me now (because they aren't that busy are they)!
F*k these Indian English scam! They rang me 2 times and left robot message. Annoying!
Scam number. Just got a call. Heard a robotic voice saying they were from the Australian Tax Office. At this stage it was obviously a scam and I hung up.
Scam number. Missed the call but there was a recorded message in voicemail that says it is tax office fraud and criminal unit and that you should drop everything and ring them back. Sounded suspect and unprofessional so I just rang the ATO and they said they had no contact with me today or this week and no pending issues or concerns.
Scam. Robot voice. Claimed to be ATO. Began to be threatening. Said I had to return the call immediately or something bad would happen.
I hung up.
I got a missed call from this number. I called it back and the recipient called himself Walton something, with a strong Indian accent. He said he was from "ATO" (I heard ITO).
I queried it and he wouldn't tell me what ITO stood for. I gave the number he'd called me on and he read out my name, which I confirmed.
He then said I was listed as the primary suspect in a criminal case for the Australian Taxation Office and wanted to know the contact details for my "criminal lawyer". I said, call my accountant. The guy then got a bit irate saying he didn't need that, he needed to know my criminal lawyer's details. I said if he's really from the ATO, he'll know who my accountant is, and hung up.
So, not very convincing scam (sorry to the person above who paid them money) but one data point is they do know the names associated with the numbers they dial, and they have a database which can look this up in moments.
Got called by Jack Austin, he then said I have 4 legal matters with the ato and the call maybe used in court.
I told him I didn't have the $4275 he requested and he responded use my credit card to show good will. At first I believed it but when I googled there number scams came up. I called the ATO and they had no recognition of contact today. And there's no outstanding debt. Just as I was about to pay I'm lucky I checked. I reported them to the ATO as well.
Beware, they have information on you, probably got your number somehow and then facebooked/googled it. It's not hard to even get someone's address.
I returned a call from this number. Person insisted they were from ATO investigating tax fraud. When I told them to f*k off they replied: "F*k you dick" and hung up which I believe indicates they were most likely an NOT ATO employee ;).
Have tried contacting this number back several times to f*k with them but no luck.
Scam alert: I had a call from Canberra saying they were from the ATO and that "I owed 2800 for miscalculation from the year 2008-2012". They said that I had violated "4 tax codes and that I better get the best lawyer in town". I ended up giving a bunch of personal information including my address and my parent's address which I use as my mailing address. I said that I wasn't paying 2800 without any paperwork or documentation and they said that they had "tried to send people out to my address 3 times". They had me on the phone for over 30 mins. They said "your option is to pay now or go to Court and risk paying 30 K if I loose" and I said, I am not paying anything without documentation. The suss part? I had to spell Brisbane and the second guy who was "the payment department" had an American accent and said "if I did not pay now the cops would be at my door in 30 mins good luck" and hung up on me.
I got the call today.. They had a lot of information about me so I end up falling for the trick and they took lot of money out of my account.. Their where super convincing.. When I found out the scam I cancel the credit card and I will get refunded. An hour later I get a call again from the same scammer still clamming to work for the government in canberra. I told him he was a fraud and I told him he was from India (because the transaction was in Rupees) and he said he was from pakistan.. After saying a lot to him he said he had no choice because of the political situation in his country and he apologise in a way.. He told me his options were doing this or joining Al-qaeda and kill people.. He start talking about his life and how difficult it was in what I think was an attempt to make me soft and let the transaction go thru..
Hopefully this info is helpful..
Im an immigrant here and I come from a hard background too but that is not reason to do things wrong.
I just rang this number back it's definitely a scam as the guy started to get defencive and abusive by the end of it claiming that I would be arrested and have to pay within 45 minutes. This is definitely not the ATO.
Just received a call from this - no-one on the line when I answered.
Scammer. Poses as ATO and tries to encourage a 'settlement' before threatening a court hearing. My apparent outstanding amount was $2.800.
Just Got a hang up call from this number - hang up before the recording starts !
Computerised voice and a scam.
Same as above: automated message saying I had an urgent ATO matter. How this can continue and how people would fall for it I do not know.
Upon answering a call from this number an automated message played to me threatening legal action against me if action was not taken by calling a different number back. The message claimed to have been from the ATO.
Same number contacted me yesterday and left a voicemail saying the same as other comments. I called the number and the operator attempted to grab details from me and avoided answering my questions; I asked what his name was and what company he was working for. Three time he hung up on me. He was rude and demanded information from me.
This is an ATO scam number. Please remove it. I told the guy I was onto him & he became very abusive.
Please report to Police/ATO.
Just had a threatening call purporting to be Crime Investigation from Australian Tax Office. Sounded like a typical Mumbai call centre. When I kept asking about information I was told they had the wrong person and hung up.
Scam call claiming to be from the ATO. Would not give my any more information when I pushed who they were.
My experience was very similar to a few of the above comments. I had 4 calls in a row and then the automated voice mail on referring to a time sensitive matter. I called back. They actually got quite aggressive saying that I was going to get arrested in 45 minutes at my workplace and my local police would be notified and my records would be downloaded if I hung up! He got a bit put off when I asked where he was located and then when I said that the ATO wouldn't arrest someone for $3000 worth of tax fraud. Not to mention they stated my address as one I lived at many years ago and clearly got off of the internet. To compare notes - also thick indian accent and tax fraud from 2008-2012. Reported to the ATO who seemed a little carefree about it all. Surely with all their meta data rifling they can reverse look up this number!
Got a auto dialer which rang 12 times a minute as my phone had blocked the number due to it being black listed through "Call Control" (an excellent app if you have Android by the way)....
Rang at 10.03.11.03.12.03 etc.... and then went to message bank where it left a computer generated message like others have commented.
If it sounds like a scam, looks like a scam, smells like a scam, its probably a scam.
I had a message left on my answering machine a few days ago saying it was a time sensitive issue and they would take legal action if I didn't call them back on 02 6100 3029. It was very hard to understand as it's definitely a computerized voice, like Suri or similar. I did not call back as it sounded like a scam.
I returned this call today as I actually have an outstanding matter with the ATO stating that I had an arrest warrant issued over an outstanding amount from 2008-12. When challenged the phone dropped out. I rang it back thinking it was simply an error and after again challenging the Indian sounding voice, it again dropped out. I have reported this to the ATO.
I had a call form 0261003029 but was on another call at the time when I noticed it was computerised voice I hung up and returned to my other call. After finishing with the call I went to Google and typed in the phone number and found this site. After reading the comments I am glad I was on another call at the time they rang. I am going to ring the ATO and advise them of this scam.
This is a scam number.
I received a similar garbled computer generated voice message threatening legal action on a time sensitive issue. Obviously they are trying some scam.
I too am getting these dodgy calls. The phone rings once and stops, it happens again a moment later and then somehow manages to bypass the usual number of rings it should ring for before going to voicemail. The automated system then leaves a stupid sounding message saying they will take legal action against me without even saying who they are... There is no chance they are going to hear from me.
Can somebody please shut them down??? The calls are annoying.
My mother just had a call from this number also threatening legal action for an unpaid debt. She has no outstanding debts and I believe this is a scam as per the previous comments.
I am a Tax Agent and today had a client who was scammed for over $5.000. By an Indian speaking person.
The caller was very insistent and threatened my client with legal action and gaol if the money was not paid. The caller stated that my client had not responded to an audit of his past tax returns and, now the ATO was seeking redress.
The caller gave a bank account number (Commonwealth Bank) based in Brisbane with a BSB of 064 000.
I advised the client to immediately contact his bank, and to report the matter to the police, and ACCC - Scamwatch.
The caller rang back the client on at least 4 other occasions since demanding the money. It appears that the client's bank was quick to stop the transaction.
I believe there is also another number 02 8310 5351 also scamming people.