Identity Theft Continues To Be A Problem for Government
From the recent data breach at the IRS to Ohio’s new Identity Confirmation Quizzes, government is trying hard to keep up with criminals intent on hijacking your personal information to obtain fraudulent refunds. If you are a victim of this type of identity theft, the IRS offers some tips on resolving the matter here. An IP PIN should be obtained so that the IRS knows that the return you filed is actually yours in the future, and filing the Identity Theft Affidavit as soon as the theft is discovered is also wise.
Given that the information needed to file a fraudulent tax return electronically is voluminous (date of birth, SSN, address, etc), a thorough review of your bank, loan, retirement, and credit card accounts should be performed if you fall prey to this scheme since the perpetrator would likely have some degree of access to all of this data. If your identity is compromised, remember that you can obtain your credit report for free (click here for more info), and free credit monitoring services are usually offered to victims of ID theft.
