844-466-5519 is a phone number used by ConServe, and they are calling you because they think you owe a debt, probably to the IRS.
ConServe is one of only three private collection agencies currently approved by the IRS to collect inactive federal tax receivables. It’s the fact that the call is coming from the federal government that is so confusing for consumers who don’t actually owe any tax debt.
If you’re receiving multiple calls from this phone number, you’re not going crazy. RoboKiller alone has recorded more than 101,900 calls from 844-466-5519, with nearly a thousand complaints lodged through that platform alone. Across the various complaint databases, the stories are all the same: repeated calls, requests for sensitive identifying information, and a refusal to provide any information about who is calling.
ConServe
Company Name: Continental Service Group, LLC, d/b/a ConServe
Entity Type: Third-party debt collection agency (not a debt buyer)
Business Location: Fairport, New York, with an additional office in Henrietta and Cheektowaga, NY
Founder: Mark E. Davitt, former president of ACA International
Founded: 1985
Current CEO/Owner: Pamela Baird, Esq., who assumed ownership of the company in March 2023
Employees: Estimated 500-1,000
Industry Specialties: Federal government tax debt, student loans, financial institution receivables
Notable Clients: IRS, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service, Stanford University, DePaul University
Better Business Bureau (BBB) Rating: A+ (accredited since September 2014)
ConServe has never been the subject of a formal enforcement action by the CFPB, the FTC, or any state AG. That sounds like a good thing, but it really doesn’t tell you much. The company has been the target of at least 11 federal lawsuits alleging FDCPA and TCPA violations.
In one Western District of New York case, the court found that ConServe was making up to four calls per day using automated dialing systems. Other suits have alleged false wage garnishment threats, pre-8 a.m. calls, unauthorized contact with third parties, and attempts to collect debts that had already been discharged in bankruptcy. The 236 complaints filed with the FTC from 32 different states say otherwise.
Why is ConServe calling me?
The IRS Private Collection Program
The number one reason that ConServe is calling from 844-466-5519 is to collect inactive tax receivables on behalf of the IRS. In December 2015, Congress passed the FAST Act, which authorized the IRS to assign certain overdue tax accounts to private collection agencies. ConServe is one of the three companies currently holding that contract, along with CBE Group and Coast Professional.
As a whole, the IRS has assigned more than 2.4 million accounts totaling more than $22.5 billion to the three private collection firms holding the contract. The Taxpayer Advocate Service has been critical of the program, pointing out that one-third of the dollars collected under the program came from taxpayers whose income was at or below their allowable living expenses. The default rate for installment agreements set up by private collectors is 37 percent, compared to just 14 percent for installment agreements arranged directly by the IRS.
When the call isn’t for you
Many of the complaints about this number are coming from consumers who don’t owe any money to anyone. Consumer after consumer is reporting being contacted about debts owed by ex-spouses, former tenants, and even complete strangers. As one EveryCaller user put it:
“Called my WORK phone asking for my ex husband I haven’t been married to in over 10 years!”
Another consumer who reported the call on ReportedCalls.com said she was called about a debt owed by someone else, despite having maintained the same cell phone number for 24 years.
“called claiming I owed for someone else. I’ve had this cell phone number for 24 years so no way this person every had my cell phone number”
These wrong-number calls aren’t harmless. They are disruptive to your daily life and have the potential to make you feel anxious about a debt you don’t even owe.
Where these calls are hitting the hardest
State-level complaint patterns
The state-by-state breakdown of FTC complaints about 844-466-5519 can tell you where ConServe’s calling campaigns are being concentrated the most. So far, California has generated the most complaints, with 55. Ohio is second, with 45, followed by New Jersey with 28. Together, those three states account for more than half of the total complaints filed against this number at the federal level.
That’s not an accident. California and New Jersey are two of the states with the strongest state-level consumer protection laws on the books over and above federal law. California’s Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act extends FDCPA protections to original creditors, and New Jersey requires collection agencies to be licensed in order to operate within state borders. Consumers in those states have additional legal recourse that collectors would prefer not to test.
National reach, local vulnerability
ConServe is a nationwide operation, with a GSA Schedule contract and licenses to collect debts in all 50 states. However, the fact that the complaints against this number are concentrated so heavily in states with strong consumer protections suggests that aggressive calling tactics are riskier in some states than others. Consumers in states like New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts may find that their state-level laws provide them with additional avenues for challenging collection activity that federal law does not offer.
Understanding your state’s consumer protection laws isn’t just an academic exercise. It’s a practical consideration when you are determining how much leverage you have when disputing a collection account on your credit report.
What consumers are experiencing
Requests for sensitive information without verification
The number one complaint about calls from 844-466-5519 is that the agent is requesting a full Social Security number but refusing to provide any identifying information of their own. One consumer on 800notes described the conversation in some detail:
“She wanted me to give her my full name, my SS#, my address etc. I asked her to tell it to me & I’ll verify. She said she couldn’t. Not to mention, she asked if anyone was around me or if anyone else could hear her.”
Collection agencies aren’t allowed to demand personal identifying information without first identifying themselves and the debt they are calling about. Under the FDCPA, collectors are required to provide their name, the name of the company, and a statement that the communication is from a debt collector. If they refuse to do so while demanding that you provide your Social Security number, that is precisely the kind of behavior that destroys consumer trust.
Silent calls, hang-ups, and voicemail drops
40 percent of the FTC complaints about this number indicated that the call was a robocall or recorded message. Multiple consumers are reporting answering the phone only to find silence on the other end or reaching voicemail messages when they try calling the number back. As one RoboKiller user put it:
“Caller immediately hung up when I answered. Since I like trolling scammers, they usually hang up on me the instant a live person picks up the line. This is a red flag for me that this is just another scammer.”
Harassing consumers isn’t OK, even if they do owe a debt. Collection agencies aren’t allowed to use tactics that are harassing, such as threatening you with jail time or posing as a government official. When a collector calls you repeatedly, hangs up without saying anything, and leaves automated messages, those are not the hallmarks of a legitimate collection effort. They are pressure tactics.
Your rights create real leverage
The FCRA and FDCPA are offensive tools
Most consumers only think of the federal debt collection laws as shields. In reality, they are swords. The Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act don’t just protect you from bad behavior. They give you actionable leverage you can use to challenge, dispute, and ultimately remove collection accounts from your credit report.
Under the FCRA, every item on your credit report has to be verifiable, accurate, and complete. If a collection agency can’t provide documentation to substantiate the debt, the credit reporting bureaus are required to delete it. The FDCPA gives you another tool by laying out specific prohibited conduct. When a collector violates those rules, it undermines their ability to defend the accuracy of their reporting.
Why removal beats payment every time
Paying a collection account does not remove it from your credit report. A paid collection still remains on your report for seven years from the original date of delinquency. The status simply changes from unpaid to paid, but the negative tradeline remains. Paid collections have zero benefit to your credit when it comes to the reporting timeline.
Complete removal of the collection account is the optimal outcome. When a disputed credit reporting item is deleted from your report because the collector cannot verify the account, that negative tradeline is gone. And removal is usually permanent. Once successfully disputed and removed, collectors generally don’t have either the mechanism or the incentive to re-report the account. The debt may still technically exist, but the credit damage doesn’t.
Taking back control
What to do next
If 844-466-5519 is calling you repeatedly, the absolute worst thing you can do is engage with the caller directly. You don’t have to confirm your identity, verify your Social Security number, or negotiate payment terms over the phone with a third-party debt collector. Every piece of information you provide can be used to strengthen their position and undermine yours.
The smart thing to do instead is to use your credit report as the battlefield. Pull your reports from all three bureaus and see if you find any tradeline associated with ConServe or Continental Service Group. If you do, that’s where the real damage is being done and that’s where the dispute process under the FCRA can do the most good.
At FightCollections.com, we help consumers like you push back against collection agencies by disputing inaccurate, unverifiable, or improperly reported items on their credit reports. The laws are on your side. The question is whether you use them.