Tax Professionals- Beware of This SCAM

TaxConnections has a wonderful team of engineers supporting us and we learn new things every day. Today, I almost got snookered by this group my IT guy and I tracked down to the Bahamas this morning. Here is the scam as it took me by surprise!  Keeping our worldwide tax network safe from these scoundrels it my intention so read what happened to me today! I am looking at my computer screen this morning and this view below pops up on my screen. Knowing we have all types of security protections, this came across my screen when I accidently typed in the word Authorize.net incorrectly. I mistyped it in as authrize.net which we traced back to some company in the Bahamas(probably a shell company). When you look at this and your screen freezes you are in shock mode fearful people are downloading all kinds of information.

In fact, my computer screen would not budge and here is what the window says:

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Click Here For a Closer Look

After calling the number provided and being directed to what  I thought was Microsoft Engineers, I was speaking to a man with a foreign accent (India) who proceeded to ask me to do a Join Me and jump on my computer to diagnose the problem. My gut instinct was to not do anything until I could call the best IT guy in the world named “George”. George has been  trusted with all our IT issues and he works with his team from a remote location and it is amazing, super smart and the most trusted guy in the world. I was sending George messages on my computer to call and help me identify if this group was for real. George got back to me just in time and was telling me “ this guy is a scam”.  As I am holding my cell phone on speaker next to my desk with the other guy on the speaker so George could hear the conversation; George jumped on my computer and kicked the guy off remotely. The other guy said he needed to diagnose the problem and was already looking through my computer. The scam is they show you files with errors and tell you they will fix them for a charge.

This guy was going to charge me $217.00 to fix a computer there was nothing wrong with except their scam message that blows up your computer screen like a Christmas tree. These guys are super smooth and they take your money and do nothing. My IT guy said they once called one of his clients and got his money, did nothing, the client did not know any better, and the following year they called and told him they wanted to refund his money but could not refund his credit card but needed his bank information so they could refund his bank account. What a scam! They now had his address, credit card and bank information and you can only imagine this is how a person’s identity is taken. They did not get anything from me except being booted off the screen in mid- sentence. The guy called back up and asked “ What happened?” I told him to talk to my IT guy and he said “No” and that was the end of the scam.

We go to great precautions to protect everyone at TaxConnections and we do a great job of it. If this message helps one or thousands of you it will make me very happy! Please comment if you have seen other scams our members can avoid just by supporting each other with the knowledge.

We are very protective of our members and arming you with this knowledge will save you lots of anguish if these guys come knocking on your computer screen. Oh, you need to know how to stop it! If this screen appears on your computer  or something like it…simply close down your computer and reboot these guys back out in the universe!

TaxConnections is where to find leading tax experts and technology around the world. Discover tax professionals who offer you a wide range of tax expertise and be more informed about the technology that supports them in operating efficiently and successfully.

TaxConnections connects tax professionals with new tax clients and tax jobs around the world. Tax Professional Members establish higher visibility online so prospective clients and employers can find our members easily. Each members also receives a Virtual Tax Office which is the most valuable online real estate available today! TaxConnections makes a difference in your professional life.

We offer a Special Membership rate to tax professionals out of work.
https://www.taxconnections.com/special-membership

Kat Jennings, CEO
TaxConnections
858.999.0053
kat@taxconnections.com

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