I received a letter in the mail from the IRS stating they could not process my request for information. 2 identical letters in the same day from IRS, very non-specific and confusing. I contacted the IRS identity protection special unit who said it was to inform me they cannot cash the fraudulent check I turned over to them. They instead contact the bank who issued the check to inform them to return the funds. Would have been more helpful if they could have just said that (thank you non-specific government form letters). Still have not received letter from them confirming the identity theft case investigation, apparently they are behind from such high volumes. 😔
The next week I received word from my employer that there was an internal breach via phishing email scams where over 60 employee online accounts that contain our personal and financial information were accessed in late hours from IP addresses in the United States and Poland. These email phishing scams pretend to be from other employees in the organization to steal log in credentials/passwords. I never provided my username and password to anyone and nothing was found on my computer. 8 others have reported tax fraud so far. At least we will have identity protection services offered for free.
Credit reports still fine. No criminal record tied to my name (I know because I got pulled over and had no issues + got out of a ticket 😋 ). Trying to remember seeing suspicious emails or other explanation of why I became victim...still don't know for sure.
I then read a news article about a very similar story with Ball State University Employees-many who had fraudulent return checks also sent to them. Highly educated and high ranking executives, very similar to the victim trends at my organization. Wouldn't it be interesting to compare information, systems, and facts? Wish I was a detective and my employer would let me discuss with the FBI working with them...
Some people's fraudulent returns made them owe, and the refunds are getting to the victims. What's the motive? Are these stupid cyber thieves? A hacker program flaw? Something else? Still millions of SSN's from deceased people being used to file fraudulent returns as well. Billions of our tax dollars..stolen. Is this even a government priority, or drop in the bucket compared to other financial crimes?
I welcome any other stories about your experiences; or even from a hackers perspective...what is the motive if not just to steal from our government and make hard working, innocent tax payers stress?
