HOUSTON – A man from Denver, Colorado reached out to KPRC 2 after his friend shared one of our reports on two Houston-area women out thousands of dollars after trying to complete their taxes.
Louis Ferguson said one of his co-workers recommended “Green Money Group” to do his 2022 taxes.
“I was so confident,” Ferguson said.
The small business owner owed the Internal Revenue Service $35,000. He said the owner of Green Money Group said she could reduce it significantly.
“When we hired her, we sent her all of our tax information to give us a second look or second opinion,” Ferguson said.
He was charged $5,000 to complete the filing.
But before anyone with the company could begin filing, he was told he needed to pay an installment.
“She said she can’t start until she has a payment. I said, ‘well, if you finish them, I’ll be able to pay the whole payment,” Ferguson recalls. “She said, ‘no I can’t start it.’ And then she tells me all these good things.”
He paid $1,000. Then didn’t hear from anyone.
“I called her back, ‘can I get some progress?’ I asked if something is going to happen. She said, ‘well I need another payment from you.’ I said, ‘OK, I’ll make one more payment for you, but I need some results. So, I made another thousand-dollar payment. So, that was $2,000 that I gave her,” he said.
This is a similar situation two Houston-area women were in.
Allison Bess and Tataum Watkins were out hundreds of dollars after trying to have Green Money Group file their 2022 taxes.
Watkins and Bess made several attempts at getting refunds. They sent emails, text messages, and called but the number was eventually disconnected.
KPRC 2′s Rilwan Balogun also sent multiple messages to the company but didn’t get a response. He also left several voicemails.
Bess and Watkins hired separate tax preparers to file for them, adding to their total costs.
Ferguson said the reporting then reached out to Balogun to share his experience.
“She moved from Texas now she’s doing it down here in Denver,” Ferguson said. “I feel bad for whoever gave her money. She’s very convincing. Hopefully, they get their money back.”
Balogun reached out to the IRS for an interview, but the agency didn’t do one.
A representative said they cannot share any information about people’s finances, nor could they say if Green Money Group was or had ever been under investigation.
As for Ferguson, he wants to press charges.
“I think we all need to get together and press charges together,” he said.
IRS STATEMENT TO KPRC 2:
Due to Federal Disclosure Laws and Regulations, the IRS cannot comment on the tax matters of specific taxpayers; the IRS can neither confirm nor deny investigations in progress, completed in the past nor contemplated.
You may find the following information helpful, attributable to IRS.gov:
Make a Complaint About a Tax Return Preparer: https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/make-a-complaint-about-a-tax-return-preparer