Over 5000 refunds have been paid to deceased people in the
USA
The IRS has been a victim of fraud on a large scale with millions of dollars being paid in false
claims. It is not yet known who is involved yet but the gang of fraudsters used records of dead people and
filed for tax returns in their names. The scam used one social security number and the records of people who
passed away between 2009 and 2010 to obtain the money. Over three hundred bank accounts were used to receive
the money and also many different addresses around the country.
One man who lived in Florida was paid around $1000 to give over his number and the fraudsters used
this to claim the tax refunds. They used popular websites that help you trace your family and routes to get
the details of their victims. This meant they could obtain social security numbers, ID, addresses and zip
codes. It is such a simple scam that took advantage of loop holes in the IRS’s online
security.
This has lead to a major embarrassment to officials at the IRS and has caused them to take a closer
look at their online reporting procedures. Around $12 million was scammed and only a fraction has been frozen
by the authorities. They are trying to find out where the money has gone and no one has been charged as yet.
The question that needs to be asked is how did the criminals get away with using just one electronic filing
number to obtain so many refunds.
What government officials are asking is how a fraud on this scale went on for so long with out being
noticed. And with only less than a quarter of the funds being recovered the tax payer will have to bare the
loss in the long run.
This type of fraud is rising extremely fast and although the IRS has worked in stopping over $500
million of money being claimed unlawfully there is still a large problem that needs to be
handled.
One of the main problems that is being faced is how easily it is to gain someone’s details through
the internet. The rising popularity of websites that allow people access to sensitive information has risen
and although they are providing an honest service the information can be used to the benefit of
criminals.
New measures should be taken to protect the identities of the population and fraud should be taken
more seriously at all levels.
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