Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

What not to do when evading taxes (Long)

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • What not to do when evading taxes (Long)

    Ok this story is an old one for me, but it was oh so gratifying in the end. This was several years ago so I don't recall any particular conversations that stick out in my mind, except for the last one, but the whole situation itself I will never forget. -- Consider yourself warned this post is long.

    One of my previous jobs that held back in 1998 – 2001 was for a computer software company that produced a Point of Sale (POS) system for restaurants. My position there was as a programmer and technical support rep. More technical support than programming but anyway.

    We had out fair share of odd quirky and sucky customers, but one in particular I will never forget. For the sake of reputations i'm going to leave names of companies and such out even though I know for a fact both the company I worked for and the restaurant in question are no longer in business.

    To give this story some depth and to give you a full picture of just how sucky this guy was I'll tell you as much as I can remember from the beginning.

    Our basic approach was pretty much the same as anyone trying to sell a software product. Demo what it can do for the customer showing off some of the softwares selling points. One of ours was a fairly intuitive back end that made it easy for the restaurant owner to add menu changes or add in specials and coupons, thus eliminating cost to the end user because he did not need to make a special tech call to make a change to the menu that was on the computer. There were many others, but this particular point is important to the story.

    One other feature we had was a modular system that allowed for hot swapping of the computers without having to shut down the entire POS system. Essentially this allowed for easy adding of additional computers later, or if one computer crashed in the middle of the day you could tell the POS that computer was no longer on the network in a few simple keystrokes. Also the system would regularly check the network in the background, if one of the computers you said should be on the network was not detected the system would put up a warning to let you know. Again this particular point is important to the story.

    Now, once the sale was made we had the customer fill out a questionnaire. This involved everything from special menu pricing, coupons, to questions so we could determine which special options to turn on and which options to leave off.

    This particular SC who we will call Jay for the story was from California, probably not important to the story, but it at least gives you a stereotypical predisposition to work on here. Jay also had a very thick accent which made him somewhat hard to understand over the phone sometimes. Especially when he got worked up.

    The first thing that probably should have tripped a red flag for us on this guy was when we got a copy of his special pricing. Now Jay was the owner of a single franchise store which he had purchased from his brother. Pizza seems pretty straightforward until you start considering the following, pricing for number of items, up charges for specific items like shrimp, special sauces, up charges for specific sauces, crust toppers, cheeses etc etc. You get the idea.

    I won't get into all of the details on the insane pricing system Jay had. Sufficing to say it was impossible for a computer to do it all. I'll stick to the key points on that.

    1: Jay wanted us to charge half an item plus a little bit more for ½ item ordering (ie half with pepperoni, half plain) --- please define a little bit more Jay.

    2: We could come up with a total of nine different ways to order certain specialty pizzas and each way came up with a different total. --- This one was a very subtle difference in the menu. You actually would never have noticed unless you started writing this stuff down from the menu. We chalked it up to the bizarre pricing system or just plain silliness on the part of Jay. We never imagined anything was amiss.

    3: Coupons were just as bizarre. Again we came up with several ways of applying a coupon to the same order and would get different totals each time. This was apart from point number 2 in that these coupons were not applicable to the already messed up specialty pizza pricing.

    Now it never occurred to us to even remotely think that this insane pricing system had a purpose to it. We know better now, but no one ever really goes into a situation thinking someone is doing something they should not be unless it is painfully obvious. Needless to say, this had yet to become apparent to us.

    Needles to say we had endless arguments with Jay over the phone about what to do for the pricing. We eventually compromised and completely eliminated the odd coupon pricing, and managed to narrow down the specialty pizzas to 3 separate ways to order instead of 9. So we get the menu situated, the pricing all set up, get the system installed and were off and running as they say. Now, one of our customs was to take bets on how long it would take for a new install to call us for tech support. I lost this bet by about 1 week. Jay called us 3 days after his install because he was getting a warning message on his 2 counter computers that his office computer was disconnected from the network. So we have him check the hot swapping options to make sure the office computer is turned on that way, and then have him check the wires. Turned out to be the network cable had come unplugged from the computer. This is a very common issue so again we think nothing of it. At least that is until we started getting called regularly for various issues, which all related to bad networking. Now one important point here, we sold all new installs with 1 year of free technical support. So Jay was paying nothing for these calls to us.

    I'll touch on a few issues that Jay would call us for. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to us. We eventually began to suspect that maybe one of the network cables or network cards on the computers may have been faulty.

    We would routinely set up specific computers on the network as a print server for specific functions. For example one might be set up to handle all of the receipt printers, another would be set up to handle the standard 8 and ½ by 11 printers (that is regular printers that most people would use in their homes) Anyway, Jay would call because his office computer, which he was using for taking phone orders, was not printing to the front counter receipt printer which his drivers used to organize where they were taking their deliveries. Sometimes Jay's managers would call because the office printer would not print out daily reports that they were printing from the front counter computers. In short printing was a mess. The culprit, the computers were not seeing each other on the network. Somehow the background process that was pinging the network shutdown so they did not get any warnings about it. This puzzled us because that process normally did not stop working unless the whole system crashed. Anyway, we would talk them through fixing things which usually involved a cable having been unplugged or one of the computers being shut off in the POS system (ie the POS was told that computer was not connected when it really was). These were all common problems, so we did not think anything of it at the time.

    Eventually though it got to the point where we stepped back and said, there is just no way anyone could have this many problems. So we advised them to replace the network cables as they were generally the most common cause of networking issues that we encountered. Failing that we would download their databases back to our mainframe and set up new systems with new network cards to be sent out to them. We were based in Ohio so that was the easier option rather than flying a tech out just to replace network cards. Anyway long story short, we ended up shipping them new systems but the problems continued. Thats when we began to get suspicious that something else was going on.

    One thing I realize I forgot to mention thus far is that year of free tech support also included a years worth of free software updates. We would use PC Anywhere which for those that don't know is a peer to peer system that allows you to remotely control another computer that runs PC Anywhere. It also allows file sharing between the two computers. This basically allows for convenient software updates as well as lets us take a look at what the customer is seeing on difficult tech support issues. Anyway, on one of our routine software updates we decided to see if we could maybe see exactly what was going on, so we stayed connected after the update. Sure enough, someone deliberately changed a setting in the POS system to tell the software that the office computer was not on the network even though it was. We think that someone was Jay as he was the most likely culprit, but we can't prove it since we didn't see him do it. At this time we just know it was someone, we have no idea who.

    So we tell Jay what we saw happen and he says to us that this is ludicrous that no one in his store would do such a thing. We insist we saw it happen during the software update but Jay won't listen to reason. Problems continue. So next software update we see it happen again. At this point the boss man threatens to cancel Jay's tech support contract as it is being violated because the problems that are occurring are being deliberately caused, and we have proof now because we recorded the update session. Jay of course gets pissed off in true SC fashion and threatens to sue etc. At this point his being pissed off is justified as far as I'm concerned, were threatening to basically start charging him for all of his tech support calls. At this point were about 9 months after the initial install date, which is only relevant to point out how long it has been and that it is well past our 2 month trial period. (The trial period we would refund the system cost, but not the installation charge if you decided you didn't like the system and wanted to give it back) Anyway we go through several hellish calls, Jay's lawyers begin negotiating with out lawyers... this drags on for about 2 months. Until finally one day we get a call from someone we really didn't remember. We had spoken with him before, just only in passing. Who was it you ask? Jay's brother. He wanted some help with getting the computer system at Jay's store in order. I remember this conversation clearly because it finally shed so much light on what the hell was going on.

    Me: Thank you for calling [name] Software how can I help you today.

    Jay's Brother (JB): Hi this is [JB's Name] calling from [JB's Store]. I need some help getting the computer's working here.

    Me: (Groaning internally) Ok sir, are you a new manager there?

    JB: Yeah, I'm looking after the store for Jay.

    Me: Ok, well your name is not on our list of those authorized to make charges to the store, so we need Jay to call us to confirm the tech support charges.

    JB: Well that's gonna be kind of hard. My idiot brother is in jail right now.

    Me: What?? (I was stunned)

    JB: Yeah, Jay got himself busted for tax evasion. The irony of all of this is his lawyer caught him out at it and reported him. (yes that would be the lawyer Jay had hired to sue us)

    Me: (light bulb) You know, that suddenly explains a whole lot.

    JB: Yeah it does, doesn't it. I told him thats what I thought he was doing, but he just called me an idiot. Oh well, I guess he's learning his lesson now. So what do I need to do to get set up as the authorized account holder?

    Me: Let me get you over to my boss man. He'll get that taken care of for you.

    (after transfer) Hey guys, you're never going to believe this......

    The rest as they say is history. Needless to say we all had a good laugh over this one.

    And the morale of the story folks: Don't hire a lawyer to sue a company when you are guilty of tax evasion.

    (a second post will follow to clarify a few points and explain what was going on)

  • #2
    Explanation

    Now the skinny on it all. - this we all found out from our lawyer who was told by Jay's lawyer who called to apologize on his clients behalf. Now this is all alleged since this is what we were told by word of mouth before any actual convictions. (there my arse is covered)

    Apparently Jay's severely messed up pricing system was all part of his way of scheming to cheat the tax system. He could enter larger sales using his pricing system to make the sale actually appear less for the same items. This really isn't illegal in any way. Until you take into account the fact that he was fudging totals afterward. He was reporting the sales using the correct totals to corporate and then reporting the smaller sales totals for tax purposes. The same was true of those messed up coupons he was using.

    Furthermore, Jay was deliberately disconnecting the office computer and running up orders on it so the orders he ran on it wouldn't be counted toward the reported sales totals on the reports the system would print out at night. He was using various methods of disconnection to make it look like there was something wrong with the system that way he could point the finger at us if he got caught. He also was allegedly not charging the appropriate state taxes on those back office orders either.

    The printing problems as far as receipts and such were yet another attempt to eliminate any paper trail.

    All in all this guy was a total sleaze bag and was trying to shift the blame to us by making it look like our system was at fault for the failure to report tax information instead of him. Which by the way, for those who have never programmed a POS system you can be held accountable if the software fails to appropriately report tax information Which had we taken the blame that could have been very disastrous for all of us, or at least cost us a large amount of legal fees to prove we were not at fault.

    The only guess I have about his lawyer having turned him is that his lawyer found out what was up and reported it so that he could not be held accountable for failing to report a crime.

    --Edit--
    I missed some details.

    On the systems intuitive back end that i mentioned so that changing the menu would be easy. Jay was also allegedly using that little feature to change the prices temporarily and then change them back after ringing up a sale.

    That background process we had that would ping the network. Jay apparently had figured out what the process name was and what it was doing because he was using the windows task manager to kill the process, hence the reason why the computers never displayed any message advising that a computer was not being detected on the network. -- We later added a line of code in the main POS to scan for that process any time somone went to the screen for placing orders and turn it on if it was not running --
    -- End Edit--
    Last edited by Chanlin; 02-06-2007, 07:14 PM. Reason: Missed some details

    Comment


    • #3
      Quoth Chanlin View Post
      The irony of all of this is his lawyer caught him out at it and reported him. (yes that would be the lawyer Jay had hired to sue us)
      A lying, cheating scumbag whips out the hammer of justice to hit you and promptly bashes in his own head with it. Hee! I love it.
      The best karma is letting a jerk bash himself senseless on the wall of your polite indifference.

      The stupid is strong with this one.

      Comment


      • #4
        He's lucky he's not a resident over in China. My aunt/uncle and their three younguns live in Beijing, and in China, there are around 58 crimes punishable by death, over half being non-violent, and the most common? Tax Evasion.

        Also in china, they have what they call Death Vans. Theyre modified charter buses basically, with lethal injection stations built into them. Executions While You Wait!

        Comment


        • #5
          Quoth Chanlin View Post
          Yeah, Jay got himself busted for tax evasion. The irony of all of this is his lawyer caught him out at it and reported him. (yes that would be the lawyer Jay had hired to sue us)
          Further irony--an honest lawyer!

          Please don't sue me...
          I pray for the strength to change what I can, the inability to change what I can't, and the incapacity to tell the difference -Calvin, Calvin & Hobbes

          Being a pessimist and cynical wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't right so often!

          Comment


          • #6
            Amazing how he spent all that money on a new POS system just to get out of paying a few dollars.

            Comment


            • #7
              ah, but that was corporate money he was spending to get the system, I'm sure.

              And for a business, proper skimming can net you several extra thousand, tax free.
              Ba'al: I'm a god. Gods are all-knowing.

              http://unrelatedcaptions.com/45147

              Comment


              • #8
                Quoth DarthRetard View Post
                He's lucky he's not a resident over in China. My aunt/uncle and their three younguns live in Beijing, and in China, there are around 58 crimes punishable by death, over half being non-violent, and the most common? Tax Evasion.

                Also in china, they have what they call Death Vans. Theyre modified charter buses basically, with lethal injection stations built into them. Executions While You Wait!
                Are you serious? I would like to hear more about that.

                Comment


                • #9
                  I'm as serious as a heart attack my friend. The media over there is also very non-biased and totally un influenced by government. The government also pretty much just tells the people everything thats going on, caus eno one has a say anyways.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth Broomjockey View Post
                    And for a business, proper skimming can net you several extra thousand, tax free.
                    Not that you would know anything about, that, right Broom?

                    Jenni
                    SC: “Yeah, Bob’s Company. I'm Bob. It's my company.” - GK
                    SuperHotelWorker made my Avi!!

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I've always maintained that my evilness is only curbed by my lack of ambition, so don't worry people, your businesses would be safe with me.
                      Ba'al: I'm a god. Gods are all-knowing.

                      http://unrelatedcaptions.com/45147

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        http://www.yayhooray.com/thread/8773...ese-Death-Vans

                        Woah...
                        Learn wisdom by the follies of others.

                        Comment

                        Working...
                        X