A woman by the name of 'Sonya' called the office today. She said she was from the Australian Taxation Reporter. I tried to ascertain what exactly was the nature of the call, and she proceeded to tell me that she would like to notify the person in charge of bookkeeping about the new taxation reforms and so on and so forth. It seemed as if she was spinning jargon and making it clear that I would have no idea what she was talking about. I advised her that the person was out of the office (I was careful not to mention any names), and asked if I could get her number so that the accounts lady could return her call once she is available. Lo and behold 'Sonya' insisted that it wouldn't be the best thing to do as she was going to be 'in and out of meetings'. That is the age-old dead giveaway that the call is a scam. The call was ended on a friendly note where she said she would try calling back later.

The company I work for gets numerous scamming calls a week and basically I'm the 'gatekeeper' (lol) who gets all the information before passing the call on to whomever is asked for. Whether it be people from 'universities studying advertising' or companies trying to get donations for their 'journals' or people pretending to be from the police force. It really is sad, and unfortunately, as a result, our company no longer advertises with anyone except for the Yellow Pages. Oh and now since I mentioned that to a few of the scammers, we now have an increase in phone calls from people posing to be from the Yellow Pages. Somehow though, I manage to identify the calls as scams after a few sentences.

Funnily enough, we have been receiving a plethora of emails supposedly from the ATO over the last few days. These are talking about taxation reforms; however each email that comes through is from a different email address. Furthermore, if you hover over the links, you can see they are scamming sites who don't even know how to spell business! It's a joke that they are able to parade with such false emails that are so similar to the ATO emails. I think it should be against the law to have any emails similar to that of a government body! What's worse is that if these scammers are actually hacking into the government’s emails then what hope does that give to us normal peasants who only have antivirus programmes to count on?

On a funny note, I do enjoy annoying the hell out of the scammers that ring up. If you pester them long enough asking for the spelling of their company name, their ABN, and their street address, they'll eventually make up some excuse to hang up! But then they will call back an hour or so later but since I'm the main person answering the phone, they have close to no chance of getting through to anyone else. MUAHAHAHAHA

I have had exactly the same experience as Con(ned). After being harrased into receiving the supposed free reports that I was told I could return, I returned the envelope back to sender unopened then received a call from the the Credit controller after new year who stated their office would not accept it back & that I had to pay for it & that she would be 'following it up'. I stated I would not pay for something I was pushed into & I did not even have as it had been returned. As stated by James this woman was also extremely rude & insistent, speaking over me, stating it was 'their right' to charge our company etc. Is anyone aware of anymore sites to warn people not to accept any calls or materials from the Australian Taxation Reporter? Maybe the ACCC?

Yes we have had the same phonecall and letter of demand to pay the invoice from Australian Taxation Reporter. Except the number is now (07) 5526 3740. We have also received the letter recently from the so-called ATO in regards to a tax refund and to follow the link. These Australian scammers are getting pretty sophisticated lately!!!

I am so glad to find this page! I too have been through the exact same crap with this company. I gave "Jan" a lecture about having some compassion. She said it wasn't her job to have compassion, pfft! That Jan is one nasty lady. I had been so worried they were going to send the debt collectors! I wonder how many people have actually paid them?
I will know better next time to just say no and hang up on these pushy people trying to trick me out of money! I will sleep a great deal better tonigt.

My husband had a call from ATR he agreed she could send out some info the envolope arrived we didnt open it strait away thought we would look at that another day. He received a call today reqursting payment when i said we hadnt looked at it and we would send it back she hit us with the 16 day cooling off period. i just receive a copy of the end of the call that states she is recording this to make sure his postage details are correct this is a scam.

Gees i love the power of google! i too had this crowd trying to first sell, then demand payment only today for this 'report/service' that i didn't agree to, nor have i even opened yet, the last 'credit' department call came from (07) 5503 4389, quite aggressively demanding payment, and it has been over two weeks blah blah, why as a business owner, do we have to constantly waste time with these people? take ya pick, donate to this, advertise here(heres your invoice complete with ad preview!) umm look, same publisher as last dodgey one, grrrr.

I too have experienced the Australian Taxation Reporter’s Scam.
I have made enquiries with the ACCC and the Qld Office of Fair trading to which they have both explained that they have breached several criteria of the act regarding unsolicited agreements.
You cannot make a verbal agreement so therefore their phoney 16 days cooling off period can’t be enforced.
I would encourage as many people as possible to contact the ACCC and Office of Fair Trading as my one complaint would go a lot further with many more stories.
I have also submitted a story on A Current Affairs website and ask that you also do the same for the same reason.
Let’s band together and stamp these Cons out, so nobody else has to go through this and nobody has to lose any money.

Yes this is a scam and Jan is a piece of work.

Yes tried they threaten us that it would go on our credit rating and i'm like ours is terrible any way but do not try and make us pay for it or i WIL get my solicitor involved who is quite a nasty character and loves to smash scammers.And the woman on the phone was disgusting saying that she could hear everything i was saying to my husband and i'm like so what i meant for you to hear it.

Hold your ground against Jan. She seems to have given up on harassing me for the time being at least. She cannot force you to pay for anything.

high-five Con(ned)!! - my experience is identical to yours, pretty much word for word. Jan is calling me back in a few days too. we should all get together for a ATR subscriber's party sometime & invite "Jan" along for some laughs :)

Just had Jan on the phone again this time using a similar number (07) 5503 4389,same belligerent, rude, insistent behavior from her. Do not deal with this company under any circumstance.

The people working for this company are unprofessional bullies & consumers should be advised not to deal with the Australian Taxation Reporter under ANY circumstance. Speak to your accountant who will look after you best as they know YOU & will charge correctly & fairly

I received a call about a month ago from a woman from the Australian Taxation Reporter who talked incessantly and tried to persuade me to subscribe to their magazines. I told her I wasn't interested repeatedly. In order to get rid of her I said she could send me some free reports just so I could get her off the phone. Unfortunately there is a letter with them that says that if they are not sent back in 14 days then you are the proud owner of a a yearly subscription and it needs to be paid for. As I didn't pick them up from my PO Box and then didn't open their envelope for a few weeks, I was well over the 14 days when I received a call from a woman from the Australian Taxation Reporter asking basically for money. Well I'll be blowed if I'm going to be conned like that! I hung up and she rang back and then cajoled me for hanging up on her. Well I got off the phone again but not before she said that she would ring me in a few days time. I'm can't wait. This number is very close to (07) 5503 4350 for which there are other posts.

A woman by the name of 'Sonya' called the office today.  She said she was from the Australian Taxation Reporter.  I tried to ascertain what exactly was the nature of the call, and she proceeded to tell me that she would like to notify the person in charge of bookkeeping about the new taxation reforms and so on and so forth.  It seemed as if she was spinning jargon and making it clear that I would have no idea what she was talking about.  I advised her that the person was out of the office (I was careful not to mention any names), and asked if I could get her number so that the accounts lady could return her call once she is available.  Lo and behold 'Sonya' insisted that it wouldn't be the best thing to do as she was going to be 'in and out of meetings'.  That is the age-old dead giveaway that the call is a scam.  The call was ended on a friendly note where she said she would try calling back later.

The company I work for gets numerous scamming calls a week and basically I'm the 'gatekeeper' (lol) who gets all the information before passing the call on to whomever is asked for.  Whether it be people from 'universities studying advertising' or companies trying to get donations for their 'journals' or people pretending to be from the police force.  It really is sad, and unfortunately, as a result, our company no longer advertises with anyone except for the Yellow Pages.  Oh and now since I mentioned that to a few of the scammers, we now have an increase in phone calls from people posing to be from the Yellow Pages.  Somehow though I manage to identify the calls as scams after a few sentences.

Funnily enough, we have been receiving a plethora of emails supposedly from the ato over the last few days.  These are talking about taxation reforms, however each email that comes through is from a different email address.  Furthermore, if you hover over the links, you can see they are scamming sites who don't even know how to spell business!  It's a joke that they are able to parade with such false emails that are so similar to the ato emails.  I think it should be against the law to have any emails similar to that of a government body!  What's worse is that if these scammers are actually hacking into the governments emails then what hop does that give to us normal peasants who only have antivirus programmes to count on?

On a funny note, I do enjoy annoying the hell out of the scammers that ring up.  If you pester them long enough asking for the spelling of their company name, their ABN, and their street address, they'll eventually make up some excuse to hang up!  But then they will call back an hour or so later but since I'm the main person answering the phone, they have close to no chance of getting through to anyone else. MUAHAHAHAHA

Recieved a call from Carol (?) at Australian Taxation Reporter. She was insistent, and bordering on belligerent - very dissapointing.

A woman by the name of 'Sonya' called the office today.  She said she was from the Australian Taxation Reporter.  I tried to ascertain what exactly was the nature of the call, and she proceeded to tell me that she would like to notify the person in charge of bookkeeping about the new taxation reforms and so on and so forth.  It seemed as if she was spinning jargon and making it clear that I would have no idea what she was talking about.  I advised her that the person was out of the office (I was careful not to mention any names), and asked if I could get her number so that the accounts lady could return her call once she is available.  Lo and behold 'Sonya' insisted that it wouldn't be the best thing to do as she was going to be 'in and out of meetings'.  That is the age-old dead giveaway that the call is a scam.  The call was ended on a friendly note where she said she would try calling back later.The company I work for gets numerous scamming calls a week and basically I'm the 'gatekeeper' (lol) who gets all the information before passing the call on to whomever is asked for.  Whether it be people from 'universities studying advertising' or companies trying to get donations for their 'journals' or people pretending to be from the police force.  It really is sad, and unfortunately, as a result, our company no longer advertises with anyone except for the Yellow Pages.  Oh and now since I mentioned that to a few of the scammers, we now have an increase in phone calls from people posing to be from the Yellow Pages.  Somehow though I manage to identify the calls as scams after a few sentences.Funnily enough, we have been receiving a plethora of emails supposedly from the ato over the last few days.  These are talking about taxation reforms, however each email that comes through is from a different email address.  Furthermore, if you hover over the links, you can see they are scamming sites who don't even know how to spell business!  It's a joke that they are able to parade with such false emails that are so similar to the ato emails.  I think it should be against the law to have any emails similar to that of a government body!  What's worse is that if these scammers are actually hacking into the governments emails then what hop does that give to us normal peasants who only have antivirus programmes to count on?On a funny note, I do enjoy annoying the hell out of the scammers that ring up.  If you pester them long enough asking for the spelling of their company name, their ABN, and their street address, they'll eventually make up some excuse to hang up!  But then they will call back an hour or so later but since I'm the main person answering the phone, they have close to no chance of getting through to anyone else. MUAHAHAHAHA