Friday, March 1st, 2019 @ 11:16PM

CFEG reports that on May 11, 2017, in the Northern District of Georgia, an IRS employee was arrested for her role in a stolen identity refund fraud scheme. She was indicted on April 25, 2017, for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft related to the scheme. https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/oi_highlights_2017.shtml

According to court documents, she had been employed by the IRS since November 2010 at the Chamblee, Georgia office. Through her employment, she had access to the means of identification of others, which could include any information used to identify a specific individual, such as name, Social Security Number (SSN), date of birth, and address. https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/oi_highlights_2017.shtml

From at least September 2012 through at least April 2013, the IRS employee knowingly devised a scheme to defraud the IRS and to obtain money by means of materially false pretenses and representations. She also knowingly possessed and used the means of identification of others without lawful authority in relation to the scheme. https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/oi_highlights_2017.shtml

Specifically, through her IRS employment, she accessed taxpayer information, including the names and SSNs of five individuals, and used this information for her own benefit. She and others prepared and electronically filed fraudulent income tax returns in the names of those five individuals and directed the anticipated tax refunds to bank accounts held in the names of others. Some of the tax refunds were subsequently used to purchase money orders. The fraudulent returns all were electronically filed from the IRS employee’s residence in Atlanta, Georgia. https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/oi_highlights_2017.shtml

Wire fraud carries a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment and aggravated identity theft requires an additional two- year term of imprisonment to any other sentence imposed. Additional legal actions are anticipated. https://www.treasury.gov/tigta/oi_highlights_2017.shtml

When IRS employees file fraudulent income tax returns and engage in stolen identity refund fraud schemes the IRS fails in its mission to apply the tax law with integrity and fairness to all.

Posted by cfegov
Categories: IRS Agents Defraud Government And Receive Bonuses, IRS Employees Engage In Tax Refund Identity Fraud