So my wife and I received a transcript of our tax info for last year. Thing is neither one of us requested a transcript. Only POA, which we do not have, could do it without us. Been a month of trying to solve how the request was made, but nothing. Talked to the IRS and they recommend contacting FTW and SSA to start identity protection procedures, banking institutions to alert them, credit bureaus, and filing an ID theft claim form with the IRS.
Thoughts?
Absolutely start contacting the suggested folks regarding identity fraud. If you have changed employers in the last 5 years, you may want to reach out to see if they have had any security breaches. My previous employer screwed up and somehow sent over 100 employee's w2s to a scammmer. Get this on record with the IRS immediately if not sooner. You may also want to contact all 3 credit reporting agencies and freeze your credit. This prevents any scammers from taking out credit in your name. You can unfreeze at any time provided you do not lose the PIN. DO NOT LOSE THE PIN. CYA
Two years ago, somehow my information was hacked and someone filed a false tax return in my name. It was a pain in the ass that took quite a while to straighten out with the IRS (my refund was only around $100 so the monetary value was small, but still.) I had to go through the whole ID fraud deal, notifying my bank and changing passwords on everything and theft reports and such.
The one good thing is now each year the IRS sends out a secret ID number that I have to put on my return, which hopefully will prevent it from happening again.
In reply to stuart in mn:
Rikki don't lose that number. Mine was "misplaced" a couple years ago and filing was a complete berkeleying nightmare.
Also, if the interwebz are correct, the IRS payed over TWO HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS in fraudulent returns last year.
Seems to me as though there should be a more secure way to file than "Just give us your SS# and we'll mail the check wherever you want."
Smarta$$ McPoopyPants wrote: Seems to me as though there should be a more secure way to file than "Just give us your SS# and we'll mail the check wherever you want."
Absolutely.
Just don't give the government an interest free loan. If you get your paycheck distributions setup correctly, you pay a small amount at the end of the year rather than getting a refund. No one wants to steal an ssn that owes money.
Robbie wrote: Just don't give the government an interest free loan. If you get your paycheck distributions setup correctly, you pay a small amount at the end of the year rather than getting a refund. No one wants to steal an ssn that owes money.
Lol, they're not using your real information. They're making it up so that they get a big fat refund.
Robbie wrote: Just don't give the government an interest free loan. If you get your paycheck distributions setup correctly, you pay a small amount at the end of the year rather than getting a refund. No one wants to steal an ssn that owes money.
While I whole-heartedly agree, and offer others the same advice,
It's a little more complicated than that as a business owner.
While this dick-nuts thief didn't receive a red cent, he did berkeley my filing from here to eternity and cost me a metric berkeley-ton of time (which equals money.)
I doubt the berkeley-stick who used my social is some brilliant hacker who figured he (or she) would get a big, fat return based on hours of research. Rather, I'm pretty confident it was some crunt who grabbed my social at the hospital after my daughter was born, as that was the first time I'd given out my SS# in YEARS.
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