Latest TDS Phishing Expedition
November 22, 2022
Tax Deferred Services, whose CEO was arrested in what the California Department of Insurance called a “$10 million securities fraud scheme,” blankets teacher email inboxes with deceptive message.
Subject Line
District Benefits Meaningful Notice / Audit
Sender
Your District Benefits Advisor
Message
Hi (name of teacher),
Have you had your 403b/457b benefit reviewed or AUDITED recently? In light of the current economic and market conditions you may want review your 403b/457b contributions, or have questions about how your assets are allocated. If you are not contributing to a 403B or 457B, we can provide a Retirement Income Gap Analysis, to determine how much if any extra you should be saving. Since this service is free to you, I thought I would send a reminder on how the audit program works.
- In your retirement plan account audit, you will discover the following:
- Do your deductions match the amount received by the investment provider(s)?
- Are your contributions going to the correct account(s) and vendor?
- Was each account set up correctly and in compliance with the IRS?
- Are your account(s) still receiving funds?
- Finally, has your account(s) matched your performance expectations?
- Can you access your funds early without IRS penalties?
- Do you have a significant Retirement Income Gap between pension income and projected needs?
You can schedule a call or zoom appointment with an audit specialist or simply email me back with questions. I recommend a short zoom call as it is faster and more efficient use of everyone’s time.
If your Audit / Benefits Specialist already has access to your account data, they will have your report ready in time for your call. If more information is needed, you will just have to answer a few questions before the audit report can be completed.
After the call with your audit specialist, you will also receive an Income Retirement Gap Report, which will estimate your combined pension and 403B/457B contributions income into the future. This report also takes into consideration your cost of living and post-employment financial needs and calculates if there is a possible gap. This information will be posted in your confidential Employee Benefits Portal, click here to set up access.
Best Regards,
TDS Benefit Counselor
TDSGroup.org
What is Really Happening
Deception. TDS is not the plan administrator for this district. They are trying to foist their high-cost products on busy, unsuspecting teachers through the illusion of affiliation with the school district. They are also using fear (audit, in light of market conditions, IRS compliance).
What You Should Do
- Warn colleagues (include our Arrested Development story on the TDS CEO)
- Alert district (include our Arrested Development story on the TDS CEO)
- Advocate for green vendors
- Clog this agent's scheduling calendar with a fake appointment (or even schedule an appointment to hear TDS non-sense first hand)
Stay wise and well (and stamp out Phishing)
