Posted by Frank Chin on July 09, 2005 at 05:39:26:
Dave:
A neighbor at a former neighborhood had a car with PA plates parked on the streets on our block for a number oof years. Turned out he bought a place in the Poconos, had no kids, worked for an out of state trucking company, and registered to vote in PA. Told me he had the thing all figure out. He paid no NY income tax, even though he’s been living in NYC, in the building 2 doors down from me for over 20 years.
When I told the auditor neighbor of mine about this he laughed and said he can’t fool ATM records, phone records etc.
In fact, I had another friend who both worked in a company that went bankrupt, and we both started businesses with the severance pay. He went ahead to collect unemployment, and I didn’t telling him that the laws at the time were strict about looking for work while collecting. He laughed at me and said “how are they to know what I’m doing at home”.
A year or two later he said the state is taking him to court alleging that he wasn’t looking for work. Wanted him to pay everything back. He told me he’s not paying because he can’t see how the state can prove it.
Some months later, he told me he was found guilty. They asked him to bring the phone bills from a certain months to court. Then they asked him to take a typical day, and explain who he spoke to, and what they spoke about. Since he had a phone# dedicated to his import’export business, all were calls for the business. They asked him to point to any calls he made looking for work. He found none.
He was ordered to pay everything back PLUS a heavy fine but jail avoiding jail. He told me he never thought his phone records can prove where he was, and what he did.
Thinking about it, all they need are phone records to prove where you REALLY live.
Frank Chin