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IRS says thieves stole tax info from 100,000

washingtonpost.com

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Re: IRS says thieves stole tax info from 100,000

#21

Post by patja »

I started "working" a few hours a week teaching programming at my kids' school. When they put me on the payroll I was astounded by the number of forms I had to fill out. I counted 15 forms requiring my signature, no less than 5 of which required my SSN.

Lo and behold, there was a data breach of employee and volunteer records. Volunteers had to have background checks, which required the SSN. Thousands of people had their IRS return hijacked due to this breach. I personally know dozens of people who were impacted.

From what I've seen of their information security, I remain completely unsurprised that they had this breach and that to this date they have no idea how it happened.

Re: IRS says thieves stole tax info from 100,000

#22

Post by davidcelis »

If you're wondering whether or not this happened to you, one way to know is if you were able to file your own return. If your own tax return was rejected because it had already been filed, it means someone was able to attempt to file a fraudulent return using your identity. Of course, this is only assuming that they managed to submit a return as you at all. It's possible your information was taken but not used.

Re: IRS says thieves stole tax info from 100,000

#23

Post by __z »

bcantrill wrote: post #20

I believe that this actually happened to me -- which tells me the 100,000 number is way too low. To be more precise: when we went to electronically file our 2014 return, it was rejected because our return had already been filed (not by us, of course). I (like 80+ million others) am a victim of the Anthem breach, and I have assumed that my fraudulent return was part of that breach. (Regardless, I have opted into the i…

So the IRS has a form you can send in to put a fraud alert or some type with them so I guess they will give your tax return special attention to see if it is really you next time.

Also - I'm confused - I have an e-file PIN. You don't?

Re: IRS says thieves stole tax info from 100,000

#25

Post by x3n0ph3n3 »

vinhboy wrote: post #17

I'll never understand why our politicians continue to cut funding to the one organization that could help the government save AND make more money. Not to mention save all of us from the headache of things like this.

Because politicians don't all belong to the same ideology and different camps have competing goals. This really isn't that complicated to understand.

Re: IRS says thieves stole tax info from 100,000

#26

Post by __z »

protomyth wrote: post #11
zaroth wrote: post #5

Krebs wrote about this in March: http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/03/sign-up-at-irs-gov-before... He has some good advice; claim your account before someone else does.

"Kasper said the detective learned that money was deposited into her account, and that she sent the money out to locations in Nigeria via Western Union wire transfer, keeping some as a profit, and apparently never suspecting that she might be doing something illegal." I am having a really tough time believing she never suspected she was doing something illegal.

Its actually more common than you think, people can be pretty naive. These people create a fake company name and website and then post "work from home" jobs listings on monster.com.

Re: IRS says thieves stole tax info from 100,000

#27

Post by jjnoakes »

__z wrote: post #23
bcantrill wrote: post #20

I believe that this actually happened to me -- which tells me the 100,000 number is way too low. To be more precise: when we went to electronically file our 2014 return, it was rejected because our return had already been filed (not by us, of course). I (like 80+ million others) am a victim of the Anthem breach, and I have assumed that my fraudulent return was part of that breach. (Regardless, I have opted into the i…

So the IRS has a form you can send in to put a fraud alert or some type with them so I guess they will give your tax return special attention to see if it is really you next time. Also - I'm confused - I have an e-file PIN. You don't?

You can e-file without an IRS-issued e-file PIN. I know of at least one tax filing software program that uses only your previous year's AGI to verify your identity to the IRS.

So having an e-file PIN, or even using an e-file PIN to e-file, does not imply that your tax return can't be e-filed by someone else who only has your previous year's AGI.

Re: IRS says thieves stole tax info from 100,000

#28

Post by __z »

scrollaway wrote: post #14
bitJericho wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The SSN was never designed or intended to be an ID number for anything but social security.

As a french citizen, and on behalf of everybody I know who doesn't live in the US (and some that do), the idea that knowing somebody's SSN basically puts you in control of their life and gives you the ability to ruin it is unbelievably ridiculous.

Someone fraudulently used my social security number. It is such a sick and terrible feeling knowing that your number is "out there" and can be used by anyone for a whole host of things. It feels horrible and really, really violating.

Re: IRS says thieves stole tax info from 100,000

#30

Post by stephengillie »

x3n0ph3n3 wrote: post #25
vinhboy wrote: post #17

I'll never understand why our politicians continue to cut funding to the one organization that could help the government save AND make more money. Not to mention save all of us from the headache of things like this.

Because politicians don't all belong to the same ideology and different camps have competing goals. This really isn't that complicated to understand.

It's not complicated to understand if you already understand the prerequisite concept of individuality - that each person acts somewhat independently of everyone else in the world.

You have to understand individuality and apply it broadly. If you don't, then it's cognitively easier to lump people into groups that you don't have to care about, and can even grow to hate.

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