Police Investigate Unlicensed Tax Office Franchises

February 13, 2012

In an investigation that began with complaints from Norfolk residents about undelivered tax returns, police discovered that five of the six Mo Money Taxes offices in the city had been operating without a valid Norfolk, VA business license and shouldn’t have been open in the first place.

Hundreds of Norfolk residents gathered last Monday, February 6, 2012 in front of the Granby Street Mo Money location to wait for promised tax refund checks. Many left disappointed without the long-awaited checks, others who did receive the checks, tried cashing them only to have them bounce.

The investigation into the business practices of Mo Money Taxes has turned into a federal case spanning several states and hundreds of complaints by dissatisfied customers. In Norfolk, 10 On Your Side reports, police are having a hard time uncovering information about the perpetuators of the scheme as five of the six Mo Money locations were operating illegally and they hadn’t obtained the required city business license.

With little or no information on the operators of the five branches of Mo Money, investigators are struggling to track them down in order to penalize them for their illegal activity.

"Failure to have a business license is a class 1 misdemeanor, which is punishable by a $2,500 fine, but they're gone now. They've slipped away," Norfolk’s Commissioner of Revenue, Charlie Hartig said.

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