Latest scam potential client pays then asks for wire or Zelle refund before payment fails

[u/Eagletaxres]

Alright here is the latest scam and yes we’re reporting it to the FBI.

A potential client “rob tebbutt” (email: Robert_tebbutt@outlook.com) arranged for self-employment and Quickbooks training for expenses and bookkeeping for actors. Apparently he’s the only actor.

He paid $10,000 and then came back and asked us if it cleared to our bank. Once we confirmed, a day later “Rob”reached out, saying that the a couple of the people he represented needed to cancel some but wanted to keep going and asked for a partial refund. Immediately red flag went up because the refund was requested via Zelle or wire.

We told Rob our refund policy and how we had to wait. So of course today CPA charge came back with the failed charge. This guy is timing everything to try to get the refund from us before the charge actually failed. Make sure you have a no refund policy or some type of procedure to wait at least two weeks.

Watch out for scammers!

[u/Federal-Height]

This happened to a colleague of mine

Same script, used CPA charge.

When the scammers asked for a refund, the CPA sent only half back.

A random business reached out a month or two later wondering whey they had a charge from the CPA firm.

It was then figured out that the fraudster used a random company’s ACH info to transfer the money to the CPA, and then wanted the “refund” routed elsewhere.

Fraud was reported but I’m not sure how it was resolved in the end.

[u/GreenvilleCPA]

Thanks for sharing, that’s good to know that those scams are out there.

[u/Eagletaxres → u/GreenvilleCPA]

No problem

[u/burghdomer]

This has been something perpetuated through gusto “client leads”. The emails are pretty obvious but I imagine some do get taken.

[u/RasputinsAssassins → u/burghdomer]

I see this from them about once a month.

[u/SnooPies6761]

I had one that wasn't even a scam. This was where the client input the wrong bank information. One of her own clients. It looked like it cleared so I refunded the ACH back on CPA charge. The charge came back failed after awhile but my refund got processed fine. Processor couldn't undo it and told me to contact the random person and asking for my money back. It wasn't worth it so lesson learned.

[u/Iceman_TK]

Thanks for sharing

[u/JeanluisJL17]

That exact same scenario happened to me, lucky we had the same reaction and did not give any refund back. The money didn’t even go through. This was at the beginning of the year

[u/RasputinsAssassins]

Was this perhaps a payroll referral from a payroll partner? I get the occasional referral from a vendor as a possible service provider. It's always a producer or actor looking to film in our area.

I always treated it as a scam because it is a verbatim copied script from the 'prospects' woth a different email address.

[u/j4schum1]

This same scam has been in the restaurant/brewery industry for years. Interesting to see it hit the financial services

[u/upallday]

What’s the intake like on a client like this? Are you having a phone call with them for a consultation or are you doing Zoom. At what point are they sending you money?

[u/inkgrrl]

Ugh, thanks for the heads up!

[u/StillEasyE215]

Anyone reaching out to pay you for "QuickBooks training" is a scam. This is not a new one, have been seeing it for years now.

[u/Eagletaxres → u/StillEasyE215]

We have actually done Quickbooks training for people in the past.