Complaints in Tenn. about Mo' Money Taxes

February 21, 2012 (CHICAGO)

This time it is because the personal information of customers wound up in a place where others could see it.

Thousands of documents were found thrown in dumpsters behind this Mo' Money Taxes office in Memphis, Tennessee.

"It's just ridiculous," said Marcus Eaves, a former customer who filed his taxes with the company back in 2007.

The documents found in the trash go back as far as 2005, many of them containing personal information like addresses, drivers license numbers and social security numbers.

"This is wrong for files to be out here," said Eaves. "This is people's personal information that anybody could have come by and gotten."

Mo' Money Taxes has been the target of complaints at branches here in Chicago earlier this month on the South Side.

"I've been waiting over a month and a half; I was told I was supposed to get $8,300," said customer Daniel Nieves.

Some customers claimed they did not receive their tax refunds or could not immediately cash the refund checks.

The company blamed the problem on the IRS and a software glitch.

In Memphis, a Mo' Money spokesman said the documents were supposed to be shredded but were not.

"Our lease was up on this operation, so I assume the landlord went inside of the location and - for whatever reason - he decided to throw the files in the dumpster," said Markey Granberry of Mo' Money Taxes. "Normally we would have all the files shredded and uh, shredded or whatever. We don't throw files in the garbage can."

Memphis police are investigating. The Illinois Attorney General's office says it has received 28 complaints about this business in Illinois and it is investigating whether consumer fraud may have occurred.

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