Litigation

Does this sound legitimate to you?

By Tracy Coenen

Today I got an email from a marketing firm that specializes in helping CPA firms market their services. The sender of the email was inquiring about whether I charge hourly or fixed fees, and what my hourly rates are. He said his client, a CPA firm didn’t want him to mention their name.

I thought this a bit odd. After all, why would I give this kind of confidential information to a marketing firm for use by their CPA firm client? The sender replied that the CPA firm had a potential fraud case to refer out and “… they want to size the fees.” And that he would go “elsewhere” if I wasn’t interested.

My response:

I?ve never heard of a CPA firm referring a case out via their marketing firm. This just doesn?t pass the smell test for me. I?d be happy to talk with the firm directly, otherwise, I?ll have to pass.

What do you think? Was the email a legitimate request based upon a case that needs to be referred out? Or was it a marketing professional making up a story to get confidential data that may help his client?

Full post as published by The FRAUDfiles Blog on June 18, 2008 (boomark / email).