The IRS sends out this warning out one or two times a year to remind taxpayer that the IRS does not use e-mail to communicate with taxpayers. The link below is to the IRS site.

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=211669,00.html

This article appeared the other day and I found it interesting. It is plausible that if employers are scanning the internet to check up on employees that collection agents would do the same.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/AvoidAnAudit/tax-collectors-trolling-facebook.aspx

Several times a month our firm receives a call from a “marketing or lead generation companies” wanting to sell our firm leads from their Television campaigns. Our policy is not participate in this form of marketing for several reasons. First, the company that the TV viewers are responding to isn’t really a tax firm, they are only a firm that sells the information to tax firms that have a boiler room of sales people. We don’t have a boiler room of salespeople that earn commissions by selling “promises” they can’t keep. Second, the TV commercial content is normally filled with half truths and unsubstantiated promises of “pennies on the dollar” and elimination of interest and penalties. These commercials are unethical and they and the firms they are selling to are ripping off of desperate people, who are merely seeking help with their tax problem and deserve to get real representation.

Bottom line. Be very weary of firms that advertise on TV and Radio. Do check out any firm with BBB and other “rip-off research company” internet sites. Do check to see how long the company has been in business. Never do business with a firm that has been in business for less than a few years. Some of these “boiler room” firms play the company name change game.
The good news is that in many states the Attorney General is putting the screws to these firms.