. >> reporter: in a kitchen in suburban minneapolis, charlene lee, the mother of two young children, learned she was going to owe more to the irs than she could pay, $42,000, after the sale of some family property. >> i thought, oh, my goodness, i'm going to owe this money to the irs. they're going to take my house, i can't handle this by myself, because i never had to do that. >> i'm patrick cox. >> reporter: charlene thought she found her answer on cnn. >> we'll solve your tax problems. >> reporter: the commercials featuring patrick cox of tax masters saturate the cable news channels. >> our former irs agents have helped many good people just like you. >> reporter: but left out of the commercials is one key fact. that the company is under active investigation for deceptive practices in at least two states. >> they're making outrageous promises, false promises, deception, lies and they're capitalizing on this bad economy and it's really unfortunate to take advantage of people who are already down on their luck. >> reporter: even so, the advertising campaign continues. >> don't wait