harrasing email message from jb marsh?

[starkitty]

Anybody on here get one? I did. I know of another photographer on here that got one and I am pretty sure he is bothering a lot of people. Please pm me if you did.

[janetg]

who is jb marsh?

[ldelacruz]

Originally Posted by janetg

who is jb marsh?

Yeah! Inquring minds want to know?

[Aric C. Hoek]

Why is he harassing photographers? I love a mystery.

[jasonhuang]

I posted this in a different forum:

I received this email the other day from JD Marsh (jd.marsh.0531@gmail.com)

To Whom it May Concern,
Your website has been logged, documented and forward to the Texas
State Comptrollers office and your local counties Tax
Assesor/collectors office.

You do not have a Texas State Sales tax certificate and there are not
collecting and remitting sales tax as required by law. THE MOMENT YOU
ADVERTISE AND TAKE MONEY FOR YOUR WORK YOU BECAME A BUSINESS. Further,
you have not filed or paid your business personal property tax as
required by law. Last, it is illegal to have the unlicensed music you
have playing on your website. You must have that song licensed through
the artist and pay the royalty fee associated with it.

This is your only notification on these violations. The next
notificatio will be from the Texas Comptroller and Attorney Generals
office when they arrange your audit for these violations and assess
the fine and penaltiies. Owning and operating a business in the State
of Texas requires you meet a MINIMUM set of requirements NONE of which
you have. According to the law, ignorance is no excuse or defense in
the eyes of the court. It was your respsonsibility to insure you take
care of these minimums when you open your business.

And by all means, rush out and get your tax certificate as soon as you
get this...it will just make it easier for the Texas Comptrollers
office to process your fine and penalities! Both name associated with
this business have been reported: Jason Huang and Andrew Chan

Thank you for a nice paycheck. I get a nice little reward for turning
your illegal ass in!
JD Marsh

Documentation:

www.table4photography.com/ - Website and blog with list of
clients that sales tax has not been collected for and remitted.

[our WHOIS public info]



At first glance, the grammar and spelling errors were enough to make me believe it was spam mail. So I sent a reply saying, "Thanks for the scam buddy!"

10 minutes later, got another reply saying it wasn't scam and that he searched the Texas state comptroller's office for my business name and came up with nothing. [I AM registered with the state, he looked up the wrong name, as I pointed out].

He again replied with, "I just missed the syntax of the name on tax certificate...but I didn't on your Personal Property tax in Collins [Collin] county! You are still illegal there! Either way, you are reported. Just means I get less in rewards cause you do have tax id."

He then later claims that he works for the state and that the state rewards him; then calls me an a-hole.

Anyway, I received a phone call from a photographer in Houston (starkitty) this afternoon saying she got the same email, but with my name...not hers.

This just furthers my belief that this guy is just harassing people. So, if you are in TEXAS and are getting this email, call the state comptroller's office and report him. I asked my county clerk if there's some sort of reward for reporting illegal businesses, and she said she had never heard of such a thing and to ignore him. There seems to really be no point in his email other than to scare you, but he's making some big claims which shouldn't go unreported.

If you ARE getting this email, please post here or notify me. It'd be interesting to see who/where/how he's targeting people.

[HeatherLou]

I do hear commercials on the radio here about turning people in for software piracy, and getting a reward, but not for sales tax stuff. You can look up who has a sales tax id online at the comptrollers site. Its pretty cool, I looked myself up, and several friends, (mostly cuz I was bored). But if you don't get the name right, like apparently this schmo didn't, its hard to turn up positive results with the search.

Even though I'm as legal as a girl can get, I would be freaked out to get an email like that.

[janetg]

seems to me i would be extremely annoyed if you couldn't turn the guy in for something -i am totally legit - but it's not the point.

[toverman]

I don't think you have anything to worry about, especially considering you are legal.

Anyone acting legitimately on behalf of the state or a public entity would not swear in an e-mail. The state also isn't big on giving warnings if someone isn't paying their taxes. It's one thing for the state to attempt to collect as much sales tax and property tax as it can, but this is not the way to do it.

[RobyMD]

Harass the harasser! :)
http://www.online-tech-tips.com/comp...ts-ip-address/

his\her generic gmail address maybe hard to track but unless he's stealing his neighbors wifi or at a library you can have something to go on.

[brad]

I've had this discussion with others.. if you tried to search on my name, you might have a hard time coming up with sales tax information... unless you knew there was a parent company involved.. and the name of that company. Just because a cursory search doesn't turn up anything doesn't mean they aren't legal.

[Joe_Lorenzini]

"Thank you for a nice paycheck. I get a nice little reward for turning
your illegal ass in!"

Is this part true?

[KdLaneJr]

Originally Posted by Joe_Lorenzini

"Thank you for a nice paycheck. I get a nice little reward for turning
your illegal ass in!"

Is this part true?

From what I've heard.., Yes; The whistle blower gets a percentage of what's owed the state. I haven't looked it up to be sure though.

[Steelsun]

Whistle blower are usually only rewarded in an instance where they have a direct relationship (vendor, employee, etc) with who they reported and have evidence of the crime/error (not just a web search).

The state MAY pay a reward for sales tax (but I doubt it, and if they do it's usually in the nature of 10-30% of the penalty fee - which for a company that advertises sales but has no sales that quarter/year/etc and did not file a -zero- income return would only be the $40-50 late fee - so he would get $4-15).

I don't think the counties pay rewards (I've reported subjects of investigations before as part of the due process of investigations and have never received a reward) of business personal tax.

Now if he is doing this as a method of receiving continual funds (i.e. he called it a "paycheck" thus he considers it employment/work), I hope he has a license as a Private Investigator or he could be turned in. And practicing as a PI and not being licensed is not only a fine, it can be a Felony!

[Steelsun]

I just checked. Ther is no J. Marsh (including JB or all names beginning with J) licensed as a PI in Texas at this time (or in the last few years).

[Steelsun]

The law in Texas on PIs (I think he'd fall under 1A, 1B and 2 for what he is doing):


§1702.104. INVESTIGATIONS COMPANY. (a) A person
acts as an investigations company for the purposes of
this chapter if the person:
(1) engages in the business of obtaining or furnishing,
or accepts employment to obtain or furnish, information
related to:
(A) crime or wrongs done or threatened against a
state or the United States;
(B) the identity, habits, business, occupation,
knowledge, efficiency, loyalty, movement, location, affiliations,
associations, transactions, acts, reputation, or character
of a person;
(C) the location, disposition, or recovery of lost or
stolen property; or
(D) the cause or responsibility for a fire, libel, loss,
accident, damage, or injury to a person or to property;
CHAPTER 1702, OCCUPATIONS CODE §1702.112. 7
(2) engages in the business of securing, or accepts
employment to secure, evidence for use before a court,
board, officer, or investigating committee;