Category: Scam
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Two new digital consumer scams
It seems that the number of ways consumers face financial risk online is expanding rapidly. No matter what we measures we take to protect ourselves, it seems that professional online scams are one step ahead of us. An online conversation tonight with a business friend triggered my to recall two recent suspected consumer frauds. I say…
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Scammy tax advsertisement
A client sent me a scammy advertisement that read, in part: URGENT for Anyone Who Bought ANYTHING in 2016: Congress Passes $42.4 BILLION “Consumer Rebate Program”! 119 Million Taxpaying Americans Can Now Get a Cash Rebate on Virtually EVERY SINGLE PURCHASE Made in 2016… But You Must Act Between January 1 and April 17 to…
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Chase Bank is not affiliated with Freedom Benefits
I am responding to a telephone caller who presumed that my trademarked business name Freedom Benefits was associated with a credit card program apparently offered by Chase Bank. Over the years I’ve received a number of calls from consumers and even one from the FBI years ago investigating consumer reports of someone using the name in an…
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Propaganda 101
Follow these three simple rules to maximize the effectiveness of your propaganda message: Craft a message that people want to hear. This is most important; far more important than telling the truth. Make it about growth and prosperity, patriotism and glory. Never succumb to the less optimistic assessment of the better educated or scientific community. Stick to…
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New tax scam with CP2000 notice
Apparently a new scam aimed at taxpayers involves and email with a fake IRS notice called a CP2000. This is the notice that the IRS sends in the mail when your tax return filed does not match the amounts received from other sources. The way to avoid this scam is simple: do not open email…
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Unregistered charity soliciting public donations
As a small business accountant working with nonprofit organizations I frequently find deficiencies in their accounting or legal filings. Minor oversights are commonplace and I’m pretty good at getting them resolved before they cause too much of a problem. But I’ve never come across such an egregious situation as a multi-million dollar nonprofit organization soliciting…
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No pity for another tax scam victim
A peer accountant reports today that he had a client fall for a tax collection scheme and paid the scammers $5,700 in Apple Itunes gift cards. I have been posting consumer warnings about tax scams for decades and am normally empathetic to victims. But I have a hard time feeling much pity for any person who:…
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Simple advice to avoid IRS scams
Hardly a week goes by when I don’t read about people falling victim of a new tax scam. Scammers are growing more numerous, more aggressive and more sophisticated. Most of these scams involve telephone calls or emails pretending to be from the IRS. Ordinary business and individual taxpayers should be aware of the following: IRS…
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Another reason to stay clear of GoFundMe
In a post titled “Fraud in Crowdfunding” I’ve written about the ridiculously high rate of fraud on GoFundMe campaigns. Some third-party evidence suggest that the majority of campaigns on that site involve some type of fraud, deception or mismanagement. The scams reported target both the project sponsors and those who fund the projects. Simply put,…
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Bala Cynwyd investment scam hits close to home
Hardly a week goes by that I don’t read about some homeowner being defrauded by an unscrupulous building contractor or an elderly person being lured into an investment scam. I’ve written and talked about dozens of such schemes over the past three decades. Yet year after year the stories keep coming. The latest incident occurs…