I got a few new clients inquiries. Some of them are my friends or referrals from clients. Two from unknown source.
I do not advertise at all. i got my clients from friends and through word of mouth.
The Two new clients inquiries are very suspicious.
Client A claimed that she got my name from CPA direct online and had heard great things from my clients. She claimed that she just got married and needs help with her returns. I told her to send me her last year returns and also asked if she would file jointly with her spouse.
There were no answer to my question at all and she sends me a file. My email gave me an alert about the file. I opened with a different computer and the file does not work. So I sent her another email and she has not replied yet.
Client B have quite a lengthy description of his tax situation. He told me that he had all the info ready. I asked him to send his last year returns over and also asked where he got my name. Again the file came back with a link to a cloud drive. I downloaded the file with only one W-2. Again, no answer to how they got my name. I wrote back and asked for more info.
How would you handle it? I felt Client A is probably not for real. But I got a bit suspicious of Client B. What would you do? IS there a safe way of opening these files from unknown people?