The caller fits in with the above... Indian lady, Richmond Group, personal questions. I said I was on the do not call register and she said it was research and did not matter as they are exempt. I suspect they are profiling individuals for future scams.

Same MO, same pushy phone people, same white shoe brigade. Yes they are in the business of 'wealth creation' - THEIRS, not yours. They also mentioned 'licensed financial planner'...and in one conversation the y also mentioned they did super...yeah, sure. ASIC - get onto them ! What the hell is it about Queensland and the white shoe mob ?

Got sucked into answering a Wealth management survey - where as soon as I hung up I realised that the probably pushed the boundaries too far (me always wanting to be helpful). Indian lady "doing research". Within 2 days the Optima Group were onto me, convincing my wife to arrange an interview at our home the following day (very pushy). They sounded legit to her because they had a fair amount of information to throw at her and made it sound as though I was the one making the enquiry at first. Anyway, I rang back, cancelled appointment and told them what I thought of their unethical way of conducting business. Makes the people who do real surveys jobs a whole lot harder when scammers make us all cynical.

Optima sell property. My husband and I just signed up for a property. I am smart though and did my due diligence. I researched the area they were selling and even called 2 real estate agents. The second real estate agent advised me not to buy. The market they presented is declining. Rents are being reduced and the agent said he has 4 client's on his books who are selling at a very serious loss and he is still struggling to sell them. Houses who are only a few years old in the same estate are selling below $100,000 less. There are investors who are in distress. We are very fortunate we are not one of those. The information shown to us was incorrect.

Hi Helen,
Did you have any luck with reporting this group? I get regular calls from them, about 2 or 3 a week. I always ask them to remove me from their call list. What else can I do?
Thanks,
Karina

I had a call from the what I thought was the Richmond Group or something (hard to understand the accent). I got sucked in to booking someone to come out and help me reduce my tax!!! It sounded legit and I was curious to see what they'd offer. I Googled Richmond Group and came to a website similar to this which got me worried. So on the day of the booking when the guy turns up I first asked if he was from Richmond Group which confused him. This guy was from Optima (Wealth Solutions) which seems to be a legit Aussie company (with a website) but they use Indian call centres to get contacts. Optima are basically selling property investment. I told him his company needs to look at their marketing methods and he was very apologetic. I still turned him away because I'm an accountant and work for a Stockbroker and I'm not interested in property investment. He was very understanding.

Got the same sh*t called few months back took some info about work life house value combined income said workers were in the area would only take 15 mins to show me better way to manage tax super and finances. Said was based in Adelaide ingle farm 10 joslin st 5098 got details from white pages. When I told him it was harrassment I was tracing calls data to take to feds he quickly said would delete all my details and never hear from them again. End of call beep beep beep AK47 should fix the problem yeah..?

I just had the same call from the Indian Woman from the Australian Information Research Centre. When I asked her where the centre was based and who funded it she just started asking questions about my employment. I asked her if the centre was government funded and she said they gave information to the government, I asked which government and she hung up. It looks as though they are being pretty persistent with getting this information if it's been going on for a couple of years. I suggest we all get the information out through social media - facebook etc so that our mates don't fall for any scams.

Same deal as above. I thought they were a govt body, they had quite a bit on info on us. I got sucked into booking someone and managed to cancel when they called to confirm the appointment, but they rang several times after that. If it were possible to find out who was behind it or who Optima (mentioned above) contacted to get it to happen I would be happy to make a formal complaint to the Ombudsman.

Hmmm seems to me that it's always a problem when the telemarketer isn't upfront with the right info, but if we are dealing with minimising tax by property investment then that's a legitimate opportunity which many people are currently doing since the deregulation of the banks and you can now get better deals by shopping around on your mortgage, it's a new concept in australia one many Aussies who want to own their homes sooner and retire earlier are now using. The hard part is who legit and who's not... There are a few companies who advertise on free to air TV and cable, and telemarketing for clients is of course a very easy direct way to get the message across. It doesn't matter who the caller is people just are suspicious of telesales calls full stop. I think the biggest problem is when the caller can hardly say their own name in English we are get a bit jumpy. I think Aussie companies should use Aussie workers to make their telesales calls but the hourly rates are 3 times so they outsource...as after all everyone wants to earn a living so if we have to get telesales calls then let's get them from an Aussie who has rent or mortgage and bills to pay too. I'm not as unhappy with that...oh and the DNC register works great if the phone number you have has never ever been listed, which since all phone numbers have been reused over and over, they may have old data. Or god forbid you have ever entered into a competition or registered your interest in anything, and not checked the small print then your back on the list.....save us all from foreign workers, and try not to be too cross with Aussies trying to keep a roof over their heads.

They are still at it... I have had them call several times.. they repeat the same questions. I actually find it amusing especially when I ask them for the companies contact number and they continually quote my home number..lmao. Total scam.

They are still at it. They rang and seemed to be clever enough to say that they were seeking information for Bureau of Census and Stats. Sort of willingly gave them base info. A few weeks later they then tried to eleicit more info. Asked their company name and they said they were registered in South Melbourne. It did not google up, so told them to b..gger off. They still persist. Have got rather firm now after 5 more calls. All to reduce our tax. Told them that they are liers and cheats, but they still persist.
Time to call in the dogs, but which dogs and from which kennels?

The best thing to do with these people is to tell them a load of lies, I told them I was an Astronaught and so was my non nexistent wife. If they want to arrange appointment,do it, invite then around, find out who they are from (get a card), tell them to f*** off face to face and report the company on the card to the ombudsman. If everyone did this we would soon have them beat.

Our home has received 2 calls from this "Australian Information Research Group", asking for highly inappropriate personal details such as income, occupation, value of home. Unfortunately the first call was taken by my teenage son, who divulged some information, much to my alarm. The second call was taken the day after by myself, when I asked for the Indian callers name "Anne" and her ID number, which she said was 8118. When I pressed her for further information about herself and her company, reminding her we were on the Do Not Call register, she hung up. Does anybody have any idea where a more official complaint can be lodged so that these scammers can be tracked down?

Yes, the Aust Info. Research Group rang us stating a lot of personal info about our combined income, how much our property is worth, how much taxation we must be spending. Offering free advice in repayment for us having completed a survey for them earlier in the year. They want to send a taxation minimisation advisor around but I wont confirm our address. Said I'd let them know tomorrow if I want them to come around. After seeing all the above posts I've decided to tell them to scoot.

Received the same call asking for details of whether I worked. Told the caller I had never heard of the org and was not prepared to give personal info out. I then googled the name and found these complaints here

I too had a call from the Australian Information Research Group. I got sucked in to booking someone to come out and help me reduce my tax!!! It sounded legit they already had my details. I Googled AIRG and came to this website which got me worried. I tried to call back to cancel but had no luck. So on the day of the booking I was ready to confront the guy and tell him to bugger off. I first asked if he was from AIRG which confused him. This guy was from Optima(wealth solutions) which seems to be a legit Aussie company but they use Indian call centres to get contacts. But I still turned him away until I can get more info. Which he was very understanding and happy to do when I explained how he got my booking. At least this mob have a web site and contact details. Has anyone dealt with Optima?

Similar phoney call today after a gap of a couple of months....only a different phone no. When i grew suspicious, the lady just hung up. Hope the authorities are doing something to catch these guys before they hurt someone....

I got a call form these guys, a male. He asked if I worked full time or part time, I asked him why I should tell him that and he went off on some tangent about tax. Again he asked me the same question and i asked why on earth would a tell a random caller any information about myself. Whist talking to him i googled the Australia information research group and came to his page. I told him I'm sorry but there is no way i would answer any of his questions and I'm not and idiot. HE WENT OFF! using the F word, C word calling me an a**hole! I said I could understand him properly and to speak slower and louder, he put the microphone really close to his mouth and shouted 'your an a**hole' I respond 'why am i the a**hole, i'm not the one trying weezle information about people over the phone' by the time I finished that sentence he had hung up.

Have had three calls this week from these idiots - today when I asked for their phone number he said it's internet phone and when I asked where were they located he hung up. The previous calls saisd they were going to help me ensure i got the right tax refund etc. I to;d them if I wanted help with that I would talk to my personal accountantant and that they should #$%^ off!! Didn't stope em - they still called back again today!!!!!