Please be careful...
A few weeks ago I got a call from someone claiming to be from the ATO (Wait, if you've seen the first series of Underbelly, don't get ahead of me just yet).
Now, I'm sure more than 99% of the time a call like that IS actually going to be coming from the ATO and not some fraudster, but I ALWAYS make sure even on my laziest of days.
So after introducing himself, the caller says "Firstly for security purposes, I just need to confirm your name, date of birth and address".
So I say, "Before I can do that, for my own security, I need to confirm your full name, and confirm that you're actually calling me from the ATO. Is there an extension I can reach you on?"
Hey says "Okay, well I'm calling from a department that can only make outgoing calls, but my name is Patrick and I work in the Melbourne call centre in Team B". If you call the ATO, you can confirm that, then I'll give you a call back in about 15 minutes, okay?".
So I said, "I could call the ATO and ask them, but all that would confirm would be that they have a Patrick working for them in the Melbourne call centre in Team B, but that wouldn't confirm that the person calling me (you) is in fact Patrick from the ATO."
At this point we argued back and forth for ages. One of his arguments being that everyone else he calls accepts that he is from the ATO, so apparently I'm supposed to fall into line.
So finally I say "Look, the only way I'm going to feel confident that I am actually speaking to the ATO is if I call you, through the main ATO phone number, or a phone number that I have confirmed to belong to the ATO."
He says "Well, I work in an area that cannot take incoming calls. If you don't want to continue this conversation, or confirm with the ATO in the manner I have suggested, then I will have to close off this file."
Basically he's said that although I have no guaranteed way of knowing whether he is in fact from the ATO, I have to just trust him or have a potentially important issue completely wiped from their to-do list.
I can tell you despite the fact that I knew of several issues I needed to speak to the ATO about, I wasn't at all tempted to give in and trust an unknown caller. Some people would call that overly paranoid, but I don't think so. You really should make it a point to know for sure who you're giving out personal details to, and my suggested method of confirmation would be perfectly reasonable, aside from the fact that this particular staff member couldn't take incoming calls.
So I said, "Well, since you have given me no sure way to confirm your identity I basically have no choice but to discontinue this conversation altogether".
And he basically said, "Okay then, bye", and that was that.
That's a huge flaw in the ATO procedures. It basically makes me realise that possibly hundreds of people every day are too trusting of people over the phone claiming to be from the ATO (or other organisations).
Now, if you have seen the first series of Underbelly, you'll know how very bad s*** can happen when the 'ATO' calls.
-Ian
A few weeks ago I got a call from someone claiming to be from the ATO (Wait, if you've seen the first series of Underbelly, don't get ahead of me just yet).
Now, I'm sure more than 99% of the time a call like that IS actually going to be coming from the ATO and not some fraudster, but I ALWAYS make sure even on my laziest of days.
So after introducing himself, the caller says "Firstly for security purposes, I just need to confirm your name, date of birth and address".
So I say, "Before I can do that, for my own security, I need to confirm your full name, and confirm that you're actually calling me from the ATO. Is there an extension I can reach you on?"
Hey says "Okay, well I'm calling from a department that can only make outgoing calls, but my name is Patrick and I work in the Melbourne call centre in Team B". If you call the ATO, you can confirm that, then I'll give you a call back in about 15 minutes, okay?".
So I said, "I could call the ATO and ask them, but all that would confirm would be that they have a Patrick working for them in the Melbourne call centre in Team B, but that wouldn't confirm that the person calling me (you) is in fact Patrick from the ATO."
At this point we argued back and forth for ages. One of his arguments being that everyone else he calls accepts that he is from the ATO, so apparently I'm supposed to fall into line.
So finally I say "Look, the only way I'm going to feel confident that I am actually speaking to the ATO is if I call you, through the main ATO phone number, or a phone number that I have confirmed to belong to the ATO."
He says "Well, I work in an area that cannot take incoming calls. If you don't want to continue this conversation, or confirm with the ATO in the manner I have suggested, then I will have to close off this file."
Basically he's said that although I have no guaranteed way of knowing whether he is in fact from the ATO, I have to just trust him or have a potentially important issue completely wiped from their to-do list.
I can tell you despite the fact that I knew of several issues I needed to speak to the ATO about, I wasn't at all tempted to give in and trust an unknown caller. Some people would call that overly paranoid, but I don't think so. You really should make it a point to know for sure who you're giving out personal details to, and my suggested method of confirmation would be perfectly reasonable, aside from the fact that this particular staff member couldn't take incoming calls.
So I said, "Well, since you have given me no sure way to confirm your identity I basically have no choice but to discontinue this conversation altogether".
And he basically said, "Okay then, bye", and that was that.
That's a huge flaw in the ATO procedures. It basically makes me realise that possibly hundreds of people every day are too trusting of people over the phone claiming to be from the ATO (or other organisations).
Now, if you have seen the first series of Underbelly, you'll know how very bad s*** can happen when the 'ATO' calls.
-Ian