My Tax Refund is ...STOLEN!

My Tax Refund is ...STOLEN!

You head out to your mailbox after a long day at work and see a notice from the IRS. Your heart rate quickens as you open the letter and read its contents. A puzzled look soon crosses over your face. The IRS is telling you they are putting a hold on your 2011 tax refund while they check out some mismatched items on your tax return. The problem is...you have not yet filed your income tax return for 2011. But someone else has! Tax filing fraud is reaching epidemic proportions as unscrupulous thieves have figured out how to file tax returns and steal your withholdings by requesting refunds. How does it happen? These thieves need your name, social security number, birth-date, address and other basic information. If most statements now omit your full social security number where do they get it?
	Data security breach. Hackers break into company records, steal the required information, and then use it or re-sell it to others for their own use.
	Health insurance and public records. Employees at these offices have ready access to the information necessary to file a bogus tax return. These "inside" jobs can be simply copying records and passing them on to others.
	Your health records. Every doctor and dentist office has your social security number. Often health insurance companies use your social security number as their account number. Each time you hand your insurance card to someone there is a risk the information could be copied and stolen.
	Mailbox theft. Stealing social security checks from seniors' mailboxes has long been a known problem. While most statements now exclude full account numbers, clever thieves can piece together your identity from different pieces of mail.
	Predictable Security Screens. Banks often ask for the last 4 of your social security number to gain access to your accounts, while medical insurance companies mask all but the last 4 of your social security on your statement. Put the two together and you can use the last 4 from a stolen health insurance statement to gain access to your bank account and your identity is easily stolen!

What to do?

If someone has filed a tax return using your social security number here is what you should do.

1	Notify the IRS via phone AND via certified mail that someone has stolen your identity and ask the IRS not to process the requested refund.
2	Visit the Federal Trade Commission web site. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/ Read the information about identity fraud, file an identity fraud report, and follow their instructions.
3	File a report with your local police department
4	Identify the major credit bureaus and place a fraud alert on your credit reports.
5	Identify all your suppliers and lock down your accounts to the degree possible.
6	File a paper tax return with an affidavit of identity theft. You will need to include copies of your social security card, drivers license, and/or passport to confirm your identity.
7	Monitor your credit for the next few years to quickly identify any other problems.

The IRS estimates that it paid out over $2 billion in fraudulent claims for refunds. Drug gangs are moving into this area because the payout is so great and the penalties are low compared to drug related crimes. While the age of e-filing and automatic deposits of refunds has sped up receiving our refunds, it also has created a tremendous identity theft problem. We all need to be vigilant. Thankfully, the IRS is now paying attention to this problem and is actively using their data matching programs in a new way. Not to catch your tax reporting errors, but to help catch identity thieves trying to steal your money.