Someone in Arizona using my SIL's name and SS# (Maricopa: how much, lawyer)

[backwoodswoman]

There is an individual using my son-in-law's name and SS# to work in Arizona, at a major-chain box store. We live 1,500 miles from Maricopa County, and my son-in-law hasn't been out of Montana since 2003, yet the IRS says he made $27,000-and some odd dollars working down there! And the year before too, yet he has paperword verifying he showed up for work at a full-time job throughout the entire year here in Montana!

Guess what? NO ONE will do anything about it!!! We tried the Sheriff's departments here and down there, and they say it's the other department's problem! We've filed a report with the FBI, the FTC, and contacted our congressman and senators! We emailed not only local papers but NBC, Fox News, and a few others.

I drove up to the Canadian border and talked to one of the Homeland Security guys, and he said they have a division for it but there wasn't anyone around here to talk to about it. Two weeks ago we sent an email to their site and guess what? Never heard from them.

The IRS wants $4,000 to pay the taxes owed for this other guy's income for 2010. Same thing happened the year before, for 2009's income. We got that fixed and we asked the IRS what would happen when the 2010 tax return is filed. The lady told us that they would put a red flag on it to mark it for identity theft, and that it would be November (2011) before anything would come up about it.

A lot of good that did. Starting in December we started getting letters threatening that the kids owed this $4,000 on the unreported income earned in Arizona. Some good the "red flag" did. They never even called to talk to my son-in-law or daughter.

When we were dealing with them last summer about the 2009 tax return we asked the lady if they would go after that guy for the taxes, and she said "No, we don't have the manpower"! Yet they have the manpower to harass my son-in-law and daughter, who being law-abiding citizens, file their taxes every year.

So, this guy down there continues to work, and we have papers from the IRS showing our kids' places of employment here in Montana, their address, their SS#, and also the son-in-law's name and SS# being used by an emloyee down there in Arizona, address and everything.

We called the Box store this guy works at, and got no where. They said the guy showed "Proper Identification" when hired. Yeah, right. Wonder where he had it made? It's Wal-mart, by the way.

Then the person at Wal-mart down there said "How do you know we don't have the real *insert name* and your son-in-law is an imposter? Well, my son-in-law was in the Navy. He also had heart surgery at 18-months of age. We have all his medical records, including pictures and description of his surgical scar taken at 18-months of age, and it matches the scar he has now, also noted by the Navy. We have his school records and other paperwork. We have a whole box full of paperwork.

My daughter has documented every call we've made regarding this, writing down who we talked to, when, and what was said.

We don't know where else to turn. This is seriously messing up these kids' life. Any ideas?

[NCN]

A story similar to this was recently reported on our local news station. It was a reporter who had the job of helping people who had problems they could not solve. Do you have a news station in your area that reports stories like this? Wouldn't it be great to expose how helpful our government is to its legal citizens while making laws to defend those that are here illegally and causing our lives much trouble?

Then again you might want to go national and be on one of the national news stations letting those in the United States know how little help our government gives to help someone dealing with a problem the government created when they allowed people to live here illegally.

Oh and something you might want to ask the person where the imposter works; if he is the real person the IRS needs to get money from, why do they not deduct it from his salary. The person in question owes the government money. Make a copy of it and send them the bill.

Sorry, it looks like I got the gender wrong on here. I think you know what I meant though.

I can see a news station having a fun time tracking down the individual that is wrongly using the SS#. It shouldn't take long for that to become a front page story. Maybe one of the presidental candidates would want to help their campaigns by coming to your aid. I would suggest that you find a candidate that agrees with closing the border and deporting all the criminals here in the United States and that would be anyone that is here illegally.

I am sorry to post so much, but this is the type of thing that makes a true Americans blood boil.

[backwoodswoman]

Yeah, if only. The small-town rag in nearby Eureka isn't worth the trouble. It's a weekly and reading it, you'd never guess there's an outside world! Next time we get to the city (Kalispell) we might try their newspaper. I don't know of any reporters who are known for the "helping people" thing, but I've seen them in other places in years past. If nothing else, maybe you can slip me the name of that reporter down there!

[locolobo13]

I hate to suggest it but find a lawyer that handles ID theft. You say you already tried the TV stations in your area?

[intelfan11315]

I bet you'd be surprised as to how much a News Reporter might be looking to do something like this. A lot of reporters go into their jobs for these kind of things. Plus, it beats reporting about a cat that went up the tree :P

I definitely wouldn't keep quiet though.

[Zonie5]

just yesterday Sherriff Joe raid a place that had 32 illegas with stolen IDs on them . might be a good idea if you were to present the facts to him as he loves to raid these places . so far he had raided 67 work related places .
i don't live in Phoen so i don't know where to get a hold of him or his office . i know there are people here who can help you with that . good luck and keep us updated about the whole thing . you migh even get hold of the paper here and they might run an expose against WM .

[dynimagelv]

Time to take a vacation to AZ and open up a can-o-whoopaxe on em

[wit-nit]

OP have you tried to utilize any of these identity fraud remedies.
Arizona Attorney General, Tom Horne

[kdog]

Originally Posted by dynimagelv

Time to take a vacation to AZ and open up a can-o-whoopaxe on em

This. Take your kid, his driver's license, birth certificate, social security card (leave the medical and other records home) and pay a visit to the local police station or sheriff's department in the jurisdiction of the Walmart where the thief works. File a complaint against the thief, and Walmart as an accomplice if you can. The identity theft is happening within that jurisdiction, so don't take no for an answer. This will carry a whole lot more weight than phone calls which honestly aren't worth a thing.

[kdog]

Originally Posted by nitram

OP have you tried to utilize any of these identity fraud remedies.
Arizona Attorney General, Tom Horne

This looks good too, although I wonder how responsive they are.