RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) -
Mo' Money or no money? Angry, frustrated people are speaking out in Richmond and Hanover tonight. They want answers from a local tax service. Where are their refunds?
A multi-agency investigation is underway, looking into the company "Mo' Money". We first broke this story Tuesday.
Customers say their checks aren't being accepted. Some say they can't get their checks at all. The police have been called, but customers say they just want their money.
"It sounds like they took the money and pocketed it," one customer told us who was too embarrassed to give his name.
"They start not answering the phone and I start calling cell phones that they gave me and now they don't answer that any more. I find out it's disconnected," Leonard Haskins told our cameras. "This phone I tried to call, his business phone, is off."
We tried calling a cell phone number given to customers with no answer.
Christina Gary got a call to pick up her check Tuesday morning: "When I got here, there was nobody here."
One customer did get his check, but he says when he tried to take it to the bank to deposit it, they wouldn't accept it. It was for more than $6,000.
Our sister station in Memphis interviewed the owner of Mo' Money. He says his company is just the "button pusher" and that the IRS is the problem.
"It's not my checking account. The checks are totally good," said Markey Grandberry.
At the Hull Street and Belt Boulevard Mo' Money locations, the doors were locked. We found employees working in the Mechanicsville office, but when we tried to go in and get some answers, they locked us out only letting customers in.
Christina Gary got her paperwork before this store went dark, but she says that's no relief. The number listed under the receiving account wasn't her bank account...."I have a routing number that goes to a bank in Texas and I have an account number, that's just a few numbers in front of my social." said Gary. "The money is mine. I worked for it. I am entitled to it."
The IRS won't comment on what's happening at Mo' Money, but a spokesperson says only early filers should have experienced delays. The Better Business Bureau has given the business an "F" in other states and police in Norfolk have confiscated equipment and shut down the office there.
If you believe your taxes were fraudulently field, call he IRS at 1-800-829-1040.
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