Has anyone encountered a scam involving REMIC tax credits / “tax credits” being deposited through a bank?
Posting this because I’m trying to figure out whether anyone has encountered this specific type of scheme before.
Someone I know has been dealing with a person who claims to have access to significant tax credits connected in some way to REMICs (Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduits). The basic story is that these “credits” have substantial value and can somehow be transferred, deposited, monetized, or otherwise processed through a bank/account.
I work at a big bank, but this is well outside anything I’ve ever encountered in legitimate banking or investing, and virtually every part of it has set off alarm bells for me.
The person promoting it has provided various documents and explanations that make the transaction sound sophisticated and legitimate, with references to REMICs, tax credits, banking procedures, attorneys/professionals, etc. But I have not been able to identify a normal mechanism where an individual would receive some transferable REMIC-related “tax credit” and then deposit or monetize it through a bank in the manner being described.
My concern is that this is essentially an advance-fee or fake-financial-instrument scam dressed up in complicated tax/banking terminology. I have specifically told the person involved not to send anyone money until the underlying asset/credit and transaction can be independently verified.
A few questions for anyone in tax, banking, structured finance, or fraud:
Have you ever encountered a legitimate financial product or transaction resembling this?
Are there actually transferable/monetizable “REMIC tax credits” that an individual could receive and process through a bank?
Has anyone seen scams specifically using REMIC terminology or purported tax credits?
If this is a known scam structure, what usually happens next? Advance fees? “Processing” fees? Taxes that supposedly need to be prepaid? Requests for banking information?
Is there a particular document, IRS form, CUSIP/security record, or other independently verifiable item I should demand that would quickly establish whether the underlying transaction is real?
I’m intentionally leaving out names and identifying information. I’m mostly interested in whether anyone has seen this specific REMIC/tax-credit story before, because searching for it hasn’t turned up much.
Would especially appreciate input from anyone who works in tax law, structured products/REMICs, bank operations, or financial fraud.