Now we have a company in Los Angles taking peoples money for something they can do with a simple call to their local tax assessors office. An official looking letter from a firm calling themselves Property Tax Assessment, with a PO Box wants you to send them $179.00 by February 27, 2009 for them to do what you can do with a simple call.
If you don’t send them the money by the 27th you will have to pay them an additional $30.00. Wow, how to word a scam letter to the hilt! In a specific example, one letter which I read states they can save the home owner $1,005.22. Notice the twenty two cents. Now they must have done some kind of research to come up with that close a figure, don’t you think?
But wait, in the letter they state “upon receipt of your service fee, Property Tax Reassessment will thoroughly review your individual property value” Now just a minute, if you send a letter out with a value to the penny, didn’t you do some research before you sent the letter?
Here’s an excerpt from the Examiner which also has a copy of the front and back of the form if you hadn’t gotten one of these scam letters and want to see what it looks like.
“The cunning company takes advantage of the fact that parcel numbers are a matter of public record to create a devious come on that may not be illegal but is certainly deceptive.
You can choose to pay someone to help you with your property tax assessment appeal, but why would you if it’s free? Trickery could induce you to pony up.
The single-page, double-sided mailing (front) (back) from “Property Tax Reassessment, P.O. Box 25519, Los Angeles, CA 90025” comes with the home owner’s address, the correct parcel number and a claim that the property may be over assessed”
When you get mailings like this, report it to your assessor, tax collector and your local district attorney. Offers to reduce your property tax with a fee attached is a warning sign, so call the county officials and do not respond to the letter.