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Scammers impersonating a legitimate business tried to pay for HR services with fraudulent cheques

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Scammers impersonating a legitimate business tried to pay for HR services with fraudulent cheques Reports & Reviews (4)

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PassionHR Consulting Business Development employee, Karen Barnard, was contacted by someone saying their name was Gene Alligood, owner of The Wedding Experience located in Miami, Florida, seeking payroll processing services. We were told that PassionHR showed up in a Google search for payroll services. Mrs. Barnard responded to a form submitted on the PassionHR website. PassionHR was under the impression that business was being conducted with a respectable business owner. A contract was signed by Mr. Alligood with The Wedding Experience agreeing to pay a monthly fee of $1,500.00 for 10 hours of Human Resources support and $750.00.00 per month for Payroll Support. Also on file are signed documents giving PassionHR permission to access and withdraw funds directly from the client's account to cover payroll. However, since this first payroll was an immediate need, The Wedding Experience agreed to send an advance for $15,000.00 to cover this particular payroll, because we were not able to set up their account to access it in such a short period of time. PassionHR was in the process of running payroll for The Wedding Experience, which included 10 employees who were to be paid a Gross Pay of $1500.00 per week. Bank account and personal information was provided for the business owner as well as all 10 employees. Payroll was to be processed on Friday, September 1st for a total gross net of $15,000.00. As mentioned, PassionHR requested the funds ahead of time. When a voided check was provided, PassionHR discovered that the bank account was valid, but did not match the information given by The Wedding Experience. At this time, PassionHR had enough information to determine this was a scam. PassionHR informed the client of this finding, cut off all communication with the client, and did not process the payroll. Of note, an additional voided check from a different bank was emailed by this impersonator that evening. Although PassionHR did not process this payroll, their payroll specialist was paid for her time spent setting up the new account with 10 employees. All was completed and ready to run. The amount paid for these services was a $500.00 setup fee and $125.00 ($12.50 per employee). PassionHR did some investigating and was able to successfully connect with Barbara and Gene Alligood, the true owners of The Wedding Experience, to confirm this was a scam and has been an ongoing issue.

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• Mar 18, 2024
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I felt their email address was odd and glad I googled them! Thank you for saving so many of us the pain of working with scammers!

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• Mar 05, 2024
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Thanks for such a detailed account of this. We had Gene Alligood approach us for payroll services for the 12 employees in Miami. They signed a contract quickly and agreed fees. Something seemed off and I Googled what I could about the company, luckily finding this post. Saved us all lots of time and potential loss of money. Thank you.

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• Jan 22, 2024
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Thanks. Same individual just contacted our payroll services firm. You post here saved us a bunch of time wasted.

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