We covered a lot of stories about how identity thieves take advantage of tax season over the past couple of months, but an a recent case in Minnesota shows just how bad it can get when the thief is the same person that prepared your taxes. In addition to shredding or securing sensitive documents experts recommend using reputable tax preparers and checking into the background of the individual or business with an organizing like the Better Business Bureau. In the Minnesota case there were nearly 6,000 victims and over 100 charges are expected against the culprit.
Here’s a selection from “Duluth Police Thwart Major Identity Theft Operation” by Faye Edmundson with the Norcross Patch”
The financial documents were located throughout the house “from the bottom floor to the third floor,” Foster said. A fraudulent income tax refund check Ford had apparently just received was lying on the kitchen table, the detective said. “We found fraudulent income tax returns, as well.” In addition, $172,000 in cash was found in a safe at the home, Foster reported.
Ford was not at home, but turned herself in to Duluth Police that evening, Foster said. A counterfeit check drawn on the account of a Duluth attorney was found in Ford’s back pocket when she was arrested, the detective said.
The Duluth Police Department had been asked by the Social Security Administration to track two checks that had been deposited in Duluth, Foster said. The investigation revealed “a large number of Social Security and income tax refund checks had been run through the account,” she said. Ford, the owner of ePro Tax Service, Foster said, had been filing fraudulent income tax returns and depositing the tax refund checks. ePro Tax Service was not a legitimate company, she said.
The investigation so far has uncovered 5,779 identity fraud victims, and there are more, Foster said. “We are not close to being finished.”
Paper Shredders
Safes
