Tax Return Fraud – Easy as ABC
Remember the hit single by the Jackson Five “ABC easy as 123″?
A B C , Its easy as
1 2 3 , as simple as
do re mi, A B C, 1 2 3
baby you and me girl
In case you don’t remember the song, click here to play: Jackson 5 ABC
Apparently stealing your tax return has become as easy as 123.
The number is growing by the seconds. According to an article by CNN.com, the IRS has identified at least 6.5 billion in tax return fraud cases related to identity theft last year. Imagine that! These are the cases that they have identified and do not include the ones that have slipped through their huge cracks. Wondering what amount has slipped through the cracks? You guessed it – the IRS refuses to answer that question. CNN was able to interview IRS Deputy Commissioner, Beth Tucker, and still walked away with no concrete answer.
It is Sooooo…. easy to steal tax returns that inmates are able to run these scams behind bars and are doing so every day in this Key West, Monroe County prison: See CNN video below
When asked whether the IRS has disappointed him or his city, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn stated, “I don’t know, I haven’t seen them, as far as I’m concerned they are M.I.A., they have not been helpful, they have not been a player and they have not taken responsibility for their side of enforcement” – you know its bad when a politician goes public and admits that the IRS (a government run entity) is eluding their responsibility.
Beth Tucker, IRS Deputy Commissioner goes on to say, “They have stepped up their efforts and increased the amount of resources that they’ve devoted to identity theft”. She then goes on to say that it is a heinous crime. Really? Identity theft is a heinous crime? Although I think it really sucks, I’m not sure “heinous” is the word we’re looking for here.
Killing Treyvon Martin and not being arrested for it is a heinous crime and unfathomable, gross lack of justice. Taking money…..well….not so sure about that one – but that’s just my opinion. By the way, please sign the petition to have that psychopathic killer “George Zimmerman” imprisoned for his heinous atrocity.
Law enforcement officials have come up with an easy and sensible solution (wonders never cease) – don’t put the refunds on a debit card! DOH!
I still think asking for submission of a valid form of identification before a refund can be submitted might be another way to curb at least some of the fraud.
All these scammers need is your name and social security number. They don’t need your address, your date of birth, or even to know where you’ve worked because (believe it or not) the IRS doesn’t verify any of this before they send your money off into the Matrix.
Please tell me Beth Tucker did not use the sorry excuse of “Not every tax payer has a bank account”. Ok, if they don’t have a bank account, mail them a fricken check. Oh, my bad, that would make sense and we definitely could not allow a simplistic solution to take precedence in a “government-related” situation.
By the way, the scammers are getting your information from insiders at doctor’s offices, car lots or anywhere where you may have had to give your social security number. I’ve heard we will eventually get our refunds. However, when I called the IRS last week, they still would not even tell me whether or not they even received my mailed tax return yet. And I am still getting letters from them to confirm the identification of someone who I’ve never heard of and of whom has never resided at my address. You do the math.