It’s been a while since I’ve received anything in the mail that screams out for attention more than this latest “pink nightmare.” I encountered my first instance of this type of attention-getting tripe when I received a “OFFICAL NOTICE” from a sleazy outfit known as National Magazine Exchange some years ago.
This time, however, the message printed on the pretty pink paper was far more alarming. If one is inclined to take something like this seriously that is. This thing looked like junk mail right off the bat, so despite the ominous nature of the message, I was instantly skeptical.
I should point out that this particular notice was addressed to my wife. I was sitting quietly in my home office a couple of days ago when she came in and showed it to me and asked me what I thought about it.
The tactics employed by the sender of this notice are quite familiar. The envelope is made to look as official as possible without crossing the line that would put the sender in trouble with the law. This probably goes along way towards achieving step 1, which is simply getting the recipient to open the envelope and see what’s inside.
The single piece of paper inside is colored pink – no doubt a way to convey the urgency of the message and to create concern on the part of the recipient and try to make them believe that this is serious business!
As you should be able to see by clicking the images below, this notice is a “Tax Lien Revision Notice” which states that some kind of tax lien has been levied against my wife. This in itself is unusual, since all our taxes are filed jointly and all the property we have owned was also owned jointly. Anything to do with taxes or property always includes both our names. This was an immediate red flag.
It was obvious immediately that this was not any type of official notice from a government entity despite the sender’s best attempt to give that impression. The disclaimer in tiny print at the bottom of the notice concedes – reluctantly I presume – that fact.
I’ve seen advertisements from tax attorneys and other businesses that claim they can help you negotiate much lower pay-offs for tax debt, credit card debt and so on. What I had always presumed was that any organization that would send notices like the one addressed to my wife would be backed up by reality. These kinds of companies normally troll through public records looking for people who have significant tax or other kind of debt. That’s what made this particular case so baffling.
My first action was to see what I could dig up on “Ideal Tax Solution.” What I found right off the bat was not terribly surprising. The individuals behind this company had a shady background according to that little tidbit.
This raised my suspicions further that this notice wasn’t legit. I wondered if it was some kind of scam, although it would be a pretty bold one if it were!
Still, I figured there would be no harm in checking this out to make sure someone at the IRS or other government agency hadn’t made a mistake which resulted in a lien being levied against my wife.
My first call was to the IRS. When it comes to liens and things of that nature, they’re the 800-pound gorilla of the group so it seemed prudent to make sure they were not upset with the Missus. I spoke with a fellow at the IRS who took all the appropriate information from me and informed me that they have no lien or any other pending action targeting my wife. Despite my skepticism about this whole thing, I’ll admit it was a relief to hear that!
I then decided to try to get some information by going right to the source, you know – right from the horses mouth, or perhaps horses ass in this particular instance. I dialed up “Ideal Tax Solution” at 866-923-5610 and got a pleasant sounding-receptionist on the phone whose name I do not recall. She asked me what I was calling in reference to and I told her about the notice my wife received in the mail. She then directed my call to another woman whose name I do not recall. I’ve got to start writing this stuff down when I’m on the telephone!
I told the woman about the notice and I that I wanted to find out what it was all about. What I found a bit odd was that this woman seemed to have no interest in soliciting my business whatsoever. There was no sales pitch or offer to “help” me in any way. I asked her if she could tell me what entity was responsible for this lien and she informed me that they get the information from public records and there was no way she could tell me which one it was and that I should contact my county clerk to find out.
Before I could even say another word, she said goodbye and hung up. The whole conversation was quite hurried as if she was quite busy with other matters and didn’t have time to talk to me. Perhaps they were all preoccupied with shredding documents or something innocent like that.
I couldn’t help but wonder about their expertise in the area of negotiation with government entities if they could not even tell me which entity was responsible for the lien! How would they even know who to negotiate with?
The next day I called our county clerk and was given the instructions that would allow me to check for the presence of a lien online. Since I had already done that and found nothing, it appeared that there were no liens on file with them either.
The only other thing I could think of was that the lien may be a result of something that happened when my wife had been living in another state for a few years before we met. Luckily, the county she lived in also had records online and I was able to search them for any liens with her name attached. Again nothing.
This leaves me wondering if the people at “Ideal Tax Solution” are just making stuff up or whether there is someone else with the same name as my wife who owes some government agency a nice chunk of change. That seems quite unlikely, however, since my wife has a very uncommon name – one that is probably shared with fewer than a half-dozen other individuals in the country (we’ve checked).
Given the background information I dug up on the people behind this outfit, I cannot help but think that this may indeed be some kind of scam. Since I was unable to come up with any record of a tax lien anywhere, it seems like this notice is either the result of fabricated information or some kind of mistake on their part.
I suppose it’s obvious at this point, but my wife has never received any notification of any kind concerning a lien prior to this notice from “Ideal Tax Solution.” Therefore, I strongly caution anyone else receiving these notices to view them with a skeptical eye to say the least. Something smells rotten and it’s not in Denmark in this case!
Click the images below for a better view.
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