Who says you can't teach a tax scammer new tricks?
Published 3:01 AM EST Feb 20, 2020
Even after writing about tax refund fraud for roughly 10 years, I am amazed at how nimble these crooks continue to be. Back in 2011, I was one of the first to report a scheme where fraudsters found Social Security numbers of the deceased online and used that information to file phony returns and collect fraudulent refund checks.Tax refund fraud centers on using stolen ID information and it's often run by large criminal enterprises who have an elaborate system in place.
The latest scheme involving small tax refunds reminds me of how thieves will test stolen credit card information to confirm a live account by making a few small charges, say $10 or less. If those go through, they're typically off to the races and ready to buy the big screen TVs and the like.How can a fraudulent tax refund of only a few hundred dollars make sense for the crooks?
"Already, nearly two dozen tax practitioner firms have reported data thefts to the IRS this year," according to an alert from the IRS dated Feb. 14.
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