Media Articles
Fraudulent Tax Refund Attempts Caused Delays for Legitimate Taxpayers in 2012
November 9, 2012 The Internal Revenue Service identified 39.1 percent more attempts at fraudulent tax refunds last tax season than in the prior year, leading to tax refund delays early in tax season. Most tax refunds were processed on a timely basis last tax season, according to a new report…
Chairmen Johnson and Herger Announce a Hearing on Removing Social Security Numbers from Medicare Cards
Wednesday, August 01, 2012 House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX) and Health Subcommittee Chairman Wally Herger (R-CA) today announced that the Subcommittees will hold a joint hearing on removing Social Security numbers from beneficiaries’ Medicare cards. The hearing will take place on Wednesday, August 1,…
IRS Boosts Staff in Tax Refund Fraud
The Internal Revenue Service is tripling the number of staff members nationwide who are dedicated to addressing the issue of identity theft tax refund fraud, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor said. Castor, the Tampa Democrat, said she was briefed Friday by IRS officials regarding progress the agency is making to tackle…
Feds Change Procedures to Speed Tax Fraud Prosecutions
After prodding from U.S. attorneys facing what one calls “a tsunami” of tax refund fraud, the Justice Department on Tuesday issued a directive designed to speed prosecutions. U.S. Attorney Robert O’Neill said the directive represents “a seismic shift” in the way tax prosecutions are handled. No longer will federal prosecutors…
IRS Says Tax-Related Identity Theft Is Rising
“Tax fraud through identity theft has become an ordinary street crime,” Bill Nelson, D-Fla., chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, told a panel of witnesses during a March 20 hearing on the IRS’s response to the problem. “All the fraudster has to do is…
2009 Security Breaches and Database Breaches
In the last five years, approximately 500 million records containing personal identifying information of United States residents stored in government and corporate databases was either lost or stolen. Since little attention was given to database breaches prior to 2005, it is safe to assume that every man, woman and child…
House Passes Bill to Curb Tax Return Identity Theft
The House has approved legislation to increase the criminal penalties against identity thieves who steal taxpayer information to file fraudulent returns. The Stopping Tax Offenders and Prosecuting Identity Theft Act, H.R. 4362, was introduced in April by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas….
Congress Probes Tax Prep Fraud and Identity Theft, June 28, 2012
The House Judiciary Committee’s Crime Subcommittee held a hearing Thursday on the growing problem of identity theft and income tax preparation fraud. “The number of these thefts has increased by approximately 300 percent every year since 2008,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas. “The Internal Revenue Service detected almost…
Fort Lauderdale Woman Faces 351 Years in Prison in Tax Fraud Scheme
A Fort Lauderdale woman was convicted of heading an identity theft tax fraud scheme that netted $11 million in federal tax refunds and involved the filing of approximately 2,000 fraudulent tax returns, federal prosecutors said. Alci Bonannee, 36, of Fort Lauderdale, faces a prison sentence of up to 351 years…
Man accused of stealing more than 100 identities
Sean Lyons is accused of stealing the identities of more than 100 people – some living, some dead – in order to file fraudulent tax returns, according to Sunrise police. The stolen information was found after an officer approached Lyons about 3:50 am. Tuesday in the lot of the Isles…
Tax Refund Fraud and Related Identity Theft
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is issuing this Advisory to assist financial institutions with identifying tax refund fraud and reporting the activity through the filing of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs). Identity theft can be a precursor to tax refund fraud because individual income tax returns filed in the United…
IRS Says Tax-Related Identity Theft Is Rising
“Tax fraud through identity theft has become an ordinary street crime,” Bill Nelson, D-Fla., chairman of the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, told a panel of witnesses during a March 20 hearing on the IRS’s response to the problem. “All the fraudster has to do is…
