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Fake IRS Messages Target Taxpayers With Bogus Payment Offer Fake IRS Messages Target Taxpayers With Bogus Payment Offer
Fake IRS Messages Target Taxpayers With Bogus Payment Offer Taxpayers are being warned about a new scam involving unsolicited text messages impersonating the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The fraudulent messages falsely claim recipients are eligible for a $1,400 Economic Impact Payment and instruct them to click a deceptive link to "claim" the funds. How The Scam Works Victims receive a text message that appears to be from the IRS, stating they are owed an Economic Impact Payment. The message urges them to provide personal information to process the supposed payment. Scammers promise the money will be deposited into a bank account or mailed as a…

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by Joe Lombardi
News
Some Americans Must File Tax Returns In March: Here's Who, Why Some Americans Must File Tax Returns In March: Here's Who, Why
Some Americans Must File Tax Returns In March: Here's Who, Why The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has alerted some American workers that they face an early tax deadline.  Those in the group who did not make estimated tax payments by Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, must file their 2024 federal income tax returns and pay any taxes owed by Monday, March 3, 2025.  Due to the deadline falling on a Saturday, it has been extended from the usual Saturday, March 1, to Monday, March 3. Details of the Early Deadline Farmers and fishers who qualify for this special deadline are those who derived at least two-thirds of their gross income from their respective…

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by Joe Lombardi
Business
Scammers Impersonating IRS With These Texts: Here's What To Know Scammers Impersonating IRS With These Texts: Here's What To Know
Scammers Impersonating IRS With These Texts: Here's What To Know A new scam is making the rounds, with fraudsters posing as Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents and sending text messages promising a substantial rebate.  The trap is a phishing attempt designed to steal your personal and financial information. What’s Happening? The fraudulent messages claim recipients are eligible for a $1,400 stimulus check, directing them to click on a fake link to “claim” their payment.  How The Scam Works You receive a text message appearing to be from the IRS, stating that you’re owed an Economic Impact Payment and must provide personal information …

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by Joe Lombardi
News
Can IRS Layoffs Affect Your Tax Refund? Here's What To Know Can IRS Layoffs Affect Your Tax Refund? Here's What To Know
Can IRS Layoffs Affect Your Tax Refund? Here's What To Know With layoffs affecting as many as 6,000 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) workers reportedly underway, anxiety has heightened for Americans eager to receive refunds near the midway point of tax filing season. Approximately 140 million returns are expected to be filed by the Tuesday, April 15 deadline. Last year, around two-thirds of taxpayers received refunds, averaging about $3,100, according to IRS data. The IRS opened the 2025 tax filing season on Monday, Jan. 27.  For many households, a tax refund can be the largest annual payment they receive all year, and it's often used to pay off…

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by Joe Lombardi
News
Thousands Of IRS Workers Expected To Be Fired Just Weeks After Tax Filing Season Starts Thousands Of IRS Workers Expected To Be Fired Just Weeks After Tax Filing Season Starts
Thousands Of IRS Workers Expected To Be Fired Just Weeks After Tax Filing Season Starts Thousands of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees are expected to be fired by the end of this week just after the start of tax filing season. In a move that has caught many off guard, the layoffs of 6,000 IRS employees are expected to begin this Thursday, Feb. 20, according to The New York Times. The decision is part of the Trump administration’s broader strategy to downsize the federal workforce.
 The cuts will primarily affect newer hires at the IRS, which had seen a revitalization effort under the Biden administration with increased funding and new staff.  However, reports ind…

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by Joe Lombardi
Police & Fire
CPA Firefighting Hero From Bergen Admits Role In $650,000 Tax Dodge CPA Firefighting Hero From Bergen Admits Role In $650,000 Tax Dodge
CPA Firefighting Hero From Bergen Admits Role In $650,000 Tax Dodge 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: A decorated veteran Bergen County firefighter admitted in federal court on Wednesday that he and his business partner conducted a blatant tax dodge on behalf of a bunch of construction companies that employed their New York accounting firm. Jack N. Sardis, 66, of Englewood Cliffs admitted that he schemed to con the IRS with his partner, George Sanossian, 70, of Scarsdale, out of a small CPA office in a massive Westchester County shopping center. Sardis also offered to do business elsewhere, telling one client "I can meet you at my firehouse,” according to an IRS complaint. The clie…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
$2M NJ Scammer Who Claimed Dead People As Biz Partners Gets 3 Years, No Parole $2M NJ Scammer Who Claimed Dead People As Biz Partners Gets 3 Years, No Parole
$2M NJ Scammer Who Claimed Dead People As Biz Partners Gets 3 Years, No Parole UPDATE: A scammer from Sussex County who fraudulently collected more than $2 million in federal funds by identifying people who'd been dead for more than a decade as business partners must spend the next three years in federal prison. John Jhong, 54, of Sparta, actually submitted bogus applications for more than $15 million in federal pandemic aid earmarked to help struggling companies during COVID-19, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Jhong "turned these vital relief programs into his personal ATM," spending the more than $2 million he illegally collected on personal expenses, the U.…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
TAX CHEAT: Owner Of NJ Construction, Real Estate Companies Admits Stiffing IRS By $236,000 TAX CHEAT: Owner Of NJ Construction, Real Estate Companies Admits Stiffing IRS By $236,000
TAX Cheat: Owner Of NJ Construction, Real Estate Companies Admits Stiffing IRS By $236,000 The owner of New Jersey construction and real estate companies admitted ducking $239,999 worth of federal income taxes, authorities said. Salvatore Caravella, Jr. of Kinnelon didn't report $692,185 in self-employment income he earned from his businesses on his personal tax returns, a complaint filed by the Internal Revenue Service says. Caravella's companies included 2-C Construction Company Inc., Bella Construction of North Jersey LLC and 203 Harrison Street LLC, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Newark. Caravella oversaw all aspects of the businesses’ operat…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Bogus Bean Counter Admits Pilfering $1.5M From Non-Profits In Englewood, JC, Elsewhere In NJ Bogus Bean Counter Admits Pilfering $1.5M From Non-Profits In Englewood, JC, Elsewhere In NJ
Bogus Bean Counter Admits Pilfering $1.5M From Non-Profits In Englewood, JC, Elsewhere In NJ A Hudson County woman admitted posing as a certified public accountant to con more than 100 private schools, religious institutions and other non-profit organizations in New Jersey out of $1.5 million, federal authorities said. Among those scammed by Yezenia Castillo, 46, of Hoboken, were a non-profit corporation dedicated to providing affordable housing to Englewood residents and a private elementary and intermediate school in Jersey City, a complaint on file in U.S. District Court in Newark says. Posing as a CPA, Castillo got hired “to provide various financial and accounting services" th…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ Tax Preparer Admits Helping Dozens Of Clients Cheat IRS Out Of $500,000 NJ Tax Preparer Admits Helping Dozens Of Clients Cheat IRS Out Of $500,000
NJ Tax Preparer Admits Helping Dozens Of Clients Cheat IRS Out Of $500,000 A Union County tax preparer admitted that she helped dozens of clients cheat the government out of nearly a half-million dollars, federal authorities said. Nehemie Leon, of Roselle, worked for Preferred Tax Choice in Irvington, records show. While there, Leon admitted in court, she “fabricated and inflated” certain tax credits, itemized deductions, expenses, and exemptions for a host of clients, said Tammy Tomlins, the acting special agent in charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation’s Newark Field Office. Altogether, Leon prepared more than 100 individual returns for 31 clients, Tomlins said. …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
CPA From Passaic County Admits Scheme To Hide $150,000 From IRS CPA From Passaic County Admits Scheme To Hide $150,000 From IRS
CPA From Passaic County Admits Scheme To Hide $150,000 From IRS A CPA from Passaic County admitted trying to hide $150,000 from the taxman with a little help from a friend. His unidentified pal compensated William Kawam, 57, of Hewitt, for his accounting services by giving him a credit card belonging to one of the friend’s businesses, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said. Kawam racked up $146,605 in charges from 2015 through 2017 that neither he nor his friend reported, Sellinger said. The scheme shortchanged the Internal Revenue Service by $54,400, he said. Kawam, a former partner at SKC & Co. LLC in Boonton, took a deal from the government rat…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Obituaries
Beloved Hunterdon County Native, Penn State Grad Megan Greene Dies After Long Illness, 38 Beloved Hunterdon County Native, Penn State Grad Megan Greene Dies After Long Illness, 38
Beloved Hunterdon County Native, Penn State Grad Megan Greene Dies After Long Illness, 38 Beloved Hunterdon County native and Penn State graduate Megan Elizabeth Greene died after a long illness on Jan. 6. She was 38. Born in South Plainfield, Greene grew up in Hunterdon County before moving to Connecticut with her family during her high school years, her obituary says. Greene earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology at Penn State before attending Western Michigan University Cooley Law School, where she earned a law degree. She also earned an LLM in Taxation from Temple University. Greene had worked for several years with the Internal Revenue Service, Office of Taxpayer Advocat…

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by Valerie Musson
News
Feds: Sussex Scammer Used Dead People’s Names To Collect $1.9M In COVID Relief Feds: Sussex Scammer Used Dead People’s Names To Collect $1.9M In COVID Relief
Feds: Sussex Scammer Used Dead People’s Names To Collect $1.9M In COVID Relief A Sussex County scammer identified people who’d been dead for years as business partners to help collect $1.9 million from the federal fund established to help struggling companies during COVID-19, authorities charged. John Jhong, 51, of Sparta, also submitted phony IRS documents with bogus Paycheck Protection Program applications to the lenders on behalf of 10 purported businesses, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said. Jhong converted a portion of the money intended for distressed businesses into a cashier’s check “that was used to fund a business account,” Honig said. Congress a ye…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Ex-AC Mayor Who Spent $86,000 In Youth Sports Donations On Himself Gets 30 Days In Fed Pen Ex-AC Mayor Who Spent $86,000 In Youth Sports Donations On Himself Gets 30 Days In Fed Pen
Ex-AC Mayor Who Spent $86,000 In Youth Sports Donations On Himself Gets 30 Days In Fed Pen UPDATE: Former Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam was sentenced Thursday to a plea-bargained 30 days in federal prison, 11 months of house arrest and 200 hours of community for scamming donors out of $86,000 that he told them was going to a youth basketball team. Frank Gilliam, 49, used the money on fancy clothes, expensive meals, and trips that were “completely unrelated to the operation of a youth basketball team,” Acting U.S. Attorney Rachel A. Honig said. “I stand before this court a fractured human being,” Gilliam told U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez via videoconference in Camde…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Paterson Man Caught By State Police With $123,255 In Drug Money Gets 3 Years In Fed Pen Paterson Man Caught By State Police With $123,255 In Drug Money Gets 3 Years In Fed Pen
Paterson Man Caught By State Police With $123,255 In Drug Money Gets 3 Years In Fed Pen A Paterson man caught by State Police troopers delivering $123,255 in drug cash will spend the next three years in federal prison before he can be released for his role in a major North Jersey ring. U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton sentenced Jhensel Jimenez-Taveras, 27, on Thursday to a plea-bargained 37 months, followed by three years of supervised release. He must serve the entire term because there's no parole in the federal prison system. Jiminez-Taveras also must forfeit the cash found in his vehicle when NJSP troopers stopped him in April 2019 following a drug deal in Berkeley H…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Police & Fire
Feds: Montvale Tax Preparer Collected Returns Using Dead Man's ID Feds: Montvale Tax Preparer Collected Returns Using Dead Man's ID
Feds: Montvale Tax Preparer Collected Returns Using Dead Man's ID SADDLE RIVER, N.J. – A tax preparer from Montvale used a dead man's identity and a Las Vegas P.O. box to illegally collect refunds from the IRS -- while he was already awaiting trial on charges of helping scam the government out of more than $1.6 million, a federal grand jury charged. Federal agents early Friday arrested 53-year-old Wayne Dunich-Kolb after a grand jury in Newark returned a new 29-count indictment accusing him of filing bogus tax returns, stealing client refunds and committing identity theft “in connection with refunds stolen from a deceased taxpayer,” U.S. Attorney Craig Car…

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by Jerry DeMarco