Dear Accounting and Taxation Professionals
There is a new internet fraud targeting accounting and taxation professionals I met in the past two months.
The essence of the trick is that some international accounting a/or taxation organizations, which try to present themselves as reliable, trustworthy, important and great in all ways, offer membership possibility.
They do not let you know much about the advantages of this membership; however, they send documents attached to their e-mail which should prove that the sender is a well-known, very international and extremely professional….but what exactly? Nobody knows.
This kind of thing is suspicious from the very beginning.
Who try to commit this kind of fraud?
So far, I have met the following two “companies” or whoknowswhat but I think there should be more out there in the mess of the web.
- Auditaxex International LLP:
Ricardo José Arteaga Arias [rarteaga@auditaxes.com] (Spanish guy with bad English knowledge representing a UK company – come on, it is a joke!)
International House 124 Cronwell road,Kensington London SW7 ET
UNITED KINGDOM
T: +44-2033187046
- Santa Fe Associates International
Lic. Karina Spilzinger
Chief Communications Officer (“chief” for who? 2 persons? – oh no, this is just a joke!)
communications@santafe-associates.com
Disgusting
They are so naughty that they are ready to talk to the potential victim on phone or Skype. If you enter such kind of conversation, it soon turns out that there is nothing real professional possibilities behind these “organizations”.
This is not fair business at all. They are only out for your money. They cannot offer anything on one side but demand a lot on the other side.
The followings are the common factors in these kinds of frauds.
- They contact the potential victims by e-mail
- They pretend to be big, well-know, professional
- They have very weird names
- The country of origin or seat is not in accordance with the nationality of the “employees”
- They are absolutely not known in the accounting and taxation profession
- They require confidential business data like total revenue, number of employee or clients
- And the main point: they require a membership fee based on the data mentioned in the previous point – at least that is what they say. This fee may sum up to USD 4 000-5 000 even for the smallest companies. It is just ridiculous!
The last point really should open up your eyes. This whole thing is just a cheap trick to get your money.
Do let you get tricked
Be aware and never take these kinds of offers serious. They go only for your private data and, of course, money.
I spoke to these people and their offer is simply a fraud. There is an insufficient level of English knowledge paired with some interesting nationality. E.g. a Spanish guy, who is very hard to be understood, representing a London-based company.
I am afraid that they consider any e-mail replies as applications and try to charge the so-called membership fee immediately. They base on the rule of large numbers. The trick is quite simple: they send out a lot of e-mails and wait for the replies. They only need a 1-2% success rate. Considering a USD 4 000 membership fee, two victims already means a USD 8 000 prize.
Maybe somebody will correct me, open up my eyes and prove me that these organizations are well-known professional companies with fair intentions. If that time comes, I will apologize. Until that, I undertake the risk of losing the partnership of the century. J
There is line that should not be passed
When the second organization like that contacted me, I decided to take them “seriously”. They almost immediately replied, however, it was weekend. They attached a lot of unworthy documents plus a questionnaire with a lot of confidential data.
They also described the process of getting a member. It consisted of 8-9 steps or the like. The last one, of course, was that I will have to pay a membership fee.
There were no regulations about how the membership fee is actually calculated attached. It is something they decide or who knows. In addition, there was no information about the advantages or the potential benefits of the membership.
I think there is a line that nobody should pass. They did it. Accounting and taxation is a profession in which you have to invest a lot all around the world. I feel it is an insult to consider you some kind of a stupid being.
They become upset very easily
How do you know it is a fraud? If you ask real and fair questions about the potential partnership, they never reply again. Indeed, if you question or refuse the membership fee, they will never contact you.
If you say that you have a feeling that this is a fraud they become upset immediately. This is the main sign that you are right. Can you still smell a dirty trick?
Sante Fe even said that they will report my “insult” to a so-called Ethic Committee. What?! I am even not a member of anything like that. It is just so ridiculous. I apologized them and said that I am very sorry about detecting this kind of fraud.
Final associations
Somehow, this whole thing reminds me and old advertisement. Come on you bastards, Trix are for kids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3ApTwWRQNw
To be fair, I also have to add the Crowd-version.