This was in my inbox at 5:31 this morning:
Good day,
A friend of mine referred me to you. I want you to help us file our tax return this year as our previous CPA/account passed in October. How much will this cost us ? We would appreciate your soonest response
This is my response:
I am so sorry to hear about your previous CPA. We are here to help any way we can. However, without knowing more about your tax situation, I am unable to quote a fee. I would suggest, however, that our fee structure is in line with the smaller CPA practices in the area and lower than the bigger practices. I would be happy to give you a better idea if you could supply some details.
And here is the response I got:
See attached of my prior employer W-2 along with Health Coverage, Mortgage Interest and IRA statement upload via secure DocuSign.
Let me know what would be the filling fees.
My security settings would not allow the DocuSign to open without input.
I emailed back and asked for the name of the friend referral and the emailer's phone number. The first dialog took place over just a couple of minutes. Since my last request nearly three hours ago, I have heard nothing.
The scammers are out there in force Be diligent!