I got a mailing a week or so ago by the department of treasury (Bureau of public Debt) through the IRS. It states that They have some Bonds of mine and request that I reply to the mail with the name and social security number I purchased the bonds in. I do have missing saving bonds but I am leery about sending info like that out since I didn't initiate tthe letter. any advice? they did provide a number to call and I tried calling but it doesn't sound official to me..
This reeks of a SCAM! You need to take this one to the post office. I'd bet this is a scam that the postal inspectors need to check out ASAP!
Butch I already know who they are and what they do. I should know as they are located less than twenty miles from me. I was just curious if anyone else on the board knew who they are and what they do. I should have stated the question differently. I guess you get what you ask for ----L O L.
any advice? cibomatto ================ I know that Bureau of Public Debt sent out letters to customers but I'm not sure about the IRS part. There is a Locators Group (Dept) at the BPD. You are wise in not sending out personal information until you are very sure it is for real. Give me the phone # they ask you to call. The phone would ring into the dept and probably would sound different to you when you are expecting them to answer BPD. Also give me the address that you can reply by mail. This will let me know if it is on the up and up for you. I will check out this information for you and get back to you as soon as possible. per wife of lb LB 59
Department of the Treasury Bureau of the Public Debt 200 Third Street Parkersburg, WV 26106-2968 Phone 304-480-7443 Fax 304-480-6490 email savbond1@bpd.treas.gov Just below the letter is a disclaimer: "The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has agreed to foward this letter because we do not have your current address. The IRS has not disclosed your address or any other tax information. They have no involement other than fowarding this letter. You may respond to this letter at your discretion." Now about 3-4 years ago I have bought some bonds and at some point I moved and forgot to update my address with them. I know I have about half a dozen bonds floating somewhere so this seems legit.. but .. like I said I tried calling and the answering machine/service didn;t sound official and the idea of "Public Debt" ... sounds fishy.. like a trap...
1*Could you post the message of the letter here except for account Nos. SS# Name Address phone Etc.? 2*This is the part my wife's not sure about, so needs more Info. 3*They may be trying to help you find the bonds.But You need to be sure it's Public Debt not an impostor. 4*We're trying to help you find out if everything's official.Just need more information from you and a little time to check things out for you. 5*Although we don't have all the answers at the moment I can assure you that there is nothing fishy about Public Debt! We have many friends and relatives both retired from there and others still working there. As I stated earlier in the thread we live within 20 miles of Public Debt. My wife retired from there in Nov.2000 after 33Yrs.of service. We have a friend who we think works in the locator dept.We will ask this friend if they can help you with this once we have gathered the information they need. Will post again with what we find out for you. ************************************* ************************************ Most folks have never heard of Public Debt. When they do they think it's a branch of the US Gov. that keeps tabs on citizens who owe Uncle Sam money. We thought the same when my wife went to work there in 1967. Actually The Bureau of Public Debt keeps track of what the Federal Government owes the public-Hince the name PUBLIC DEBT. It is a branch of the U. S. Treasury Dept. that keeps all the records on U. S. Savings Bonds. Every Savings Bond ever sold anywhere in the world goes to this Parkersburg,W.Va. location for processing and record keeping. Here's hoping you've found this post helpful and informative. LB 59
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY BUREAU OF THE PUBLIC DEBT 200 THIRD STREET PARKERSBURG, WV 26106-2968 Phone (304) 480-7443 FAX (304) 480-6490 E-mail: SavBondl@bpd.treas.gov The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has agreed to forward this letter because we do not have your current address. The IRS has not disclosed your address or any other tax information. They have no involvement other than forwarding this letter. You may respond to this letter at your discretion. Refer to: 2002 LOCATOR MAILOUT (July>- Dear Bondowner: A savings bond with your social security number has been returned to our office as undeliverable. If you or any member of your family has ever purchased bonds for yourself or as a gift, please furnish the information requested on the back of this letter. The furnishing of social security numbers and other information is required under the governing regulations, 31 CFR, Parts 315 and 353. We use these numbers and other information to maintain ownership records of the securities. In order for us to search the bond(s) we are holding, we need a list of all social security numbers and names for which you purchased bond(s). When we receive the requested information, we'll mail the bond(s) to you. For your convenience we're enclosing an envelope. If you have questions about any information in this letter, please call Locator Group, (304) 480-7443, or write to the address above. Sincerely, lathy L. Moran, Manager HH/H Assistance Branch **** I scanned the entire letter (OCR)*****
Thanks for posting the letter it could be very helpful in getting to the bottom of this for you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ **Does this envelope have the same address as the one in the letter? lathy L. Moran, Manager HH/H Assistance Branch This person works for Public Debt in Parkersburg,W.Va. My wife knows her. Her name is Kathy not lathy. I think the "l " was a typo in the original letter you scanned. We will have our friend that works at BPD check into this for you and let your know what we learn as soon as we find out anything. LB 59
LB, thanks so much for your help.. your are going beyond the help I expected and for that I am VERY GREATFUL!!
I talked with my friend that works in the Locator Dept. at BPD. Everything is on the up and up. She said you are not the only one that has questioned this. When a bond is mailed to a person and is returned undelivered it is returned to BPD. (Public Debt). The Locator Dept. makes every attempt to locate the person and correct address and when this can't be done they make up a list of people and send it to the IRS for their help. The IRS goes through tax returns, compare SSN's and sends out the letter to the customer. The BPD never sees any of this information about the person until you write to the address on your letter (200 Third St., Parkersburg, WV ) or call into the Locator Dept. that is on your letter (304-480-7443). The E-mail address on your letter is a "Treasurer Hunt" address in which you will have to use your SSN and you can get answers to questions about your bonds. There is also a web site in which you can use to get more information about bonds in general and I assume background history on BPD etc. Hopefully I copied this down correctly for you. If not, play around with it. I have never been on the web site myself. It is www.savingsbond.gov I appreciate your being careful with important personal information. I wish more people did the same. I hope this has been helpful to you. BPD will do all they can to help you locate your missing bonds. It was nice talking with you via this board. If you need any more assistance let us know and of course, BPD will be more than happy to assist you with any needs you may have with your bonds. LB 59 You are welcome glad we could help. Please post again and let us know how it worked out in finding your bonds.
I think the kudos goes to wife of lb first, no? The folks at BPD are great! My parents had a house break-in about 3 years ago. My dad gets bi-weekly mailings of US savings bonds (federal contractors like Lockheed and Northrop really really push them!) Well the idiot burgular stole several bonds! My dad didn't know the exact ones but he told BPD the serial number of the latest dated one he could find. They evidently scanned their databases for any bonds dated after that point, cancelled them, reissued all new ones as replacements and mailed them to him! We're talking over 50 bonds!!
WHOA Nellie, I almost forgot about this thread.. yes, about a day or so talking to you I finally gave them a call from work. I talked to the rep for a bit before giving my info. I asked questions about bonds and how lost bonds are processed and she was able to answer all of the questions. A week after the conversation I was sent a batch of missing bonds (I had no Idea I had this many missing) I was missing 6 $100 bonds. I received them and quickly mailed them to a safekeep company with the rest of my bonds thanks so much for your help.
