Taxmasterny.com Scam Alert
Beware! Another suspected fake Income Tax Preparation website has just popped up on our scam radar at http://taxmasterny.com! The domain was just registered on 04/07/2015 and the website created 04/08/2015 on Vooservers in the UK at IP address 91.227.223.95.
The business name and address listed on the suspected fake website is:
Tax Master Incorporated
228 West 82nd St,
New York, NY 10024
Phone: (347) 349-5414
Taxmasterny.com is believed to be a spoof of the Legitimate Business- Tax Master Inc located in Long Island and Queens New York whose website is located at http://www.taxmasterinc.com/, which has been online since 2006 and has been in business since 1950.
It’s tax season and a prime target for scammers to go after job seekers and offer a work from home position processing tax refunds for their overseas “clients” who “worked in the US” in 2014. See Taxrefex.com Scam Alert and TaxAdjusting.com Scam Alert for more information on how this scam works.
Here’s a screenshot of the suspected fake website at http://taxmasterny.com.
And here’s a screenshot of the “web panel” the “employee” logs into to get their “Tasks” and it’s located at http://taxmasterny.com/panel. Note: It’s the same webpanel used in all their previous fake web development and graphic scams we previously posted about. Anyone can easily register, create an account and access the “backoffice”. A legitimate business has strict security measures in place that would not allow just anyone to get access to their employee’s workstation.
Do Not Reply To An Email That Contains A “Job Offer” You Did Not Request!
These scammers send out emails to job seekers they find on job sites or through Craigslist and can sound very convincing but also too good to be true. If you reply to them requesting more info they make the business appear legit by actually using the credentials and history of the legitimate company!
They will hire anyone without a background check or in many cases even without an interview. However, those they have done phone interviews with on previous scams in the past all stated the interviewer always had a thick foreign accent!
They will always ask for and require you sign an Employment Agreement, a bank account (they say to deposit paychecks but actually they deposit stolen money for you to withdraw and wire overseas) and a W-4 for tax purposes (which provides your social security number)!!
If you accept their “job offer” and complete their “task” by withdrawing the cash they deposit in your account, or cash a check they may send you, and wire that cash overseas as instructed, you can be held responsible for repaying that money either back to whomever they stole the money from, or the bank for cashing a BAD check!! The scammers may even try to reverse the deposit to steal thousands more from YOU! You could even be prosecuted for wire fraud and receiving stolen property, while the criminals walk away scot-free with thousands of dollars that cannot be traced or recovered once they pick the cash up at Western Union or Moneygram in the foreign country you sent the money to.
What To Do If You Are A Victim Of An Employment Scam
If you have fell victim to this scam at http://taxmasterny.com or a similar scam, you need to contact your bank immediately and close your account, hopefully BEFORE they try to reverse the transaction. Next file a police report with your local authorities and then file a complaint with the FBI’s internet crime center at http://www.ic3.gov/
Next you need to contact the 3 credit bureaus- TransUnion, Equifax and Experian, and place a fraud alert on your report. These scammers now has your Social Security number so they can steal your identity and may try and obtain credit in your name. This will alert you for at least 90 days about any suspicious activity.
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Please Share This Post And Help Warn Others So THEY Won’t Fall Victim To The Taxmasterny.com Scam!
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as
long as I provide credit and sources back to your blog?
My website is in the very same niche as yours and my visitors would really benefit from
a lot of the information you present here. Please let me know if this ok with you.
Regards!
It’s ok with me, anything that can help get the word out to help protect others from these cyber criminals will be appreciated! Thanks.
They are fake…I fell for it!!!
I received emails from them. They claim that the employee needs to send refunds overseas to their “customers”. Why wouldn’t the “company” just send the money to their customers themselves? Makes no sense, even though they appear to be a legitimate company. Who knows? I would exercise caution either way.
Got an email from this address stating all of the above. Scum is what they are.