The Child Support Ate Your Refund Pt2
A Business Owner Accused of Fraud Defends His Business
In the article below we met Chukwuka Nwokobia an Business Owner, Afrobeat Party Enthusiast, and according to many complaints online he may be scamming tax payers that trusted him to do their taxes.
After I messaged Chukwuka on Facebook, IG, and by email he did reach back out to provide comment on his clients allegations. Let me start by saying the Chukwuka handled our communication with grace and positivity, praising my work and politely nudging our conversation toward closure after every message. It was easy to see how he attracted business. If I had to describe it the communication it bordered on text book digital etiquette with enough polite directing to learn the Chukwuka is a very positive person. So positive even that he may be ignoring some important responsibilities.
He started by summarizing Taxbox Refund’s businesses process. He mentioned a “3rd party bank that facilitates the process”, this makes it so clients don’t have to pay the fees up front. He also made sure to asserted “ It is illegal for a tax professional to have a client’s funds go to their personal bank account.” He then offered to release the returns of the original person who reached out to me with their permission of course.
It is my opinion that during this correspondence etiquette acts as a support for his pending request. Mr. Nwokobia mentioned that he would appreciate “negative remarks and site” being removed. Then he offered me what I believe to be a strawman’s argument by following his soft request with mentions of clients that have had their refunds garnished because child support and tickets.
I reminded him about 3 other issues that we found in our investigation:
The BBB Rating of NR due to the number of complaints.
The CTEC Status of Expired
Any comments relevant to the numerous amount of complaints.
In reference to the BBB accreditation Mr. Nwokobia mentioned that his team runs those platforms and that now that he was aware he would look into it.
The CTEC status response raised other concerns. When questioned on the CTEC filing Chukwuka mentioned his team again. He over explained without any detail about what the actual issue with this requirement was and then mentioned that his team was doing the taxes for his clients. Mr. Nwokobia sent us digging for information regarding the name of the tax preparer on the Taxbox Refund team that holds valid CTEC registration.
For reference this is what we were hoping to find:
After finding the list of employees working with Taxbox Refund we began running the names through the CTEC website we found one other tax preparer with the same address as Chukwuka Nwokobia:
Moya Ojarigi (moya.business on IG, alias of Moya Speaks).
My opinion and final takeway:
Within communication and all throughout his business as a tactic Taxbox Refund and Chukwuka Nwokobia seems to favor the principle of reciprocity. This business operates in a community that has a deep history of mistrust. Los Angeles is home to people who have a deep inherited mistrust. Chukwuka’s success is related to his use of identity within his business and offering too good to be true offers. As a child of two immigrant parents and as a black man let me be honest both of these communities are very slow to trust and need to believe that you are getting the best deal so that they do not receive the shitty end of the stick. By offering higher refunds than everyone else, and seemingly neglecting to offer transparent information regarding fees or helping clients request IRS transcripts (Click Here to Verify Your Filing) to provide peace of mind; I can definitely see how 100+ complaints end up being filed. Those clients feel hurt, confused, and betrayed. Maybe Chukwuka will finally be accountable to his team and clients who got the blame for everything that we asked about.
Maybe it’s time to ask our business leaders to be accountable to their communities. Just because we are chasing a desire in a fucked up system doesn’t mean we need to be fucked up about how we get it.