WILTON MANORS, Fla. – A Wilton Manors accountant is accused of scamming more than 20 of his customers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
He has been released on bond as police continue their investigation, believing there are many more victims out there.
Jose Coss ran Coss Bookkeeping and Accounting before he was arrested for grand theft, schemes to defraud and money laundering.
“They would come into his office to get their taxes done. He would say, ‘You don’t owe anything, you aren’t getting a refund but you don’t owe anything,’” Wilton Manors Police Department Detective Bonnie Owens said. “He would change the tax documents to get a refund.”
Owens said so far, there are 22 victims and there could be at least 10 more.
Local 10 News’ Bridgette Matter sat down with one of them.
“I saw this post on Facebook that alerted me -- ‘Hey, there is this scam bookkeeper out there,’” said the victim, who asked not to be identified.
According to the victim, Coss handled his tax returns for several years, and he trusted him.
“I was in disbelief, I couldn’t believe it,” said the victim. “Something was off for a while there, but I trusted him, he was a friend.”
The man says he knew something was very wrong when he was denied access to an American Express airport lounge because of an unpaid balance.
When he called American Express, he discovered a business card with almost $100,000 in unpaid charges -- a card police say Coss opened.
“When was the moment when you realized you’ve been scammed?” asked Matter.
“When the Amex investigator called me up and said there was a $96,000 delinquency on the business card under my name, and I said, ‘Was this Jose Cos?’” the victim said.
Later he came across a Facebook post that read: “If anyone had their taxes done by Jose Coss then they may want to check their transcripts and reach out to Detective Owens at the Wilton Manors Police Department.”
Owens was already on the case, adding that unidentified victim to her growing list.
“He would cross out IRS, write Coss Bookkeeping and Accounting,” Owens said.
It is exactly what court documents say happened to another victim, which said the victim was, “owed $37,637, and there was a check in the file written to the IRS, however that was crossed out.”
Matter went to Coss’ listed address, and someone inside told her to leave.
“He does have a prior criminal history for embezzlement,” Owens said.
Local 10 News checked into Coss’ background and found in 2010 he was indicted for embezzlement, which he pleaded guilty to in 2012.
The victim Local 10 News spoke to and many others said they are left with a mess.
The victim has hired another accountant to review the returns that were never filed and work with the IRS.
“When you include Amex and the IRS he’s been robbing, it’s way over the $100,000 mark,” said the victim. “I want to see him go to jail for a very, very long time.”