Tax Fraud ring busted in Tampa Bay area (crime, credit issues)

[Sunshine Rules]

This story was on the 11 pm Tampa news stations last night. Yes, it's about busting up a tax fraud ring in Tampa, but we are just down the road and don't think criminals in our area haven't learned how easy a crime tax fraud can be to commit with electronic filing:

Police: Tampa street criminals steal millions filing fraudulent tax returns | TBO.com


Just in the Tampa Bay area alone, these thieves could have stolen up to a BILLION dollars in illegal tax refunds:

Postal Inspector Doug Smith said his agents seized an estimated $100 million in fraudulent tax refunds destined for local mailboxes. And Police Chief Jane Castor said she thinks that number represents less than 10 percent of the total fraud. If Castor's estimate is close, the total fraud in the Tampa area alone could approach $1 billion.


The IRS is obviously lacking in procedures to prevent fraud:

At the same time, minimal or nonexistent screening of electronically filed tax returns, investigators said, makes it all too easy to commit this kind of fraud.


These people are accused of commiting fraud and identity theft on a massive scale and, according to the article, 90% of them admitted to the crimes because they didn't think they did anything wrong.

[Big House]

What I said wasn't rude, or an attack. She posted the article and I made a funny comment about it. - And my inability to sing a rescue song of course. :-) If anything I was making a link to a news article anyone could find more fun and interesting with a little obvious humor.

Although, I think posting a story about the ease of committing fraud is a BAD idea. Both by the news paper and by the OP.

[Sunshine Rules]

Identity theft, in my opinion, is not funny. The Tampa stations interviewed several people in the Tampa area who were victims of this group. One was a young man with severe disabilities and his monthly benefits for therapy and assistance were cut because someone filed a tax return claiming income he did not receive in order to get a fraudulent refund. Another victim is working her way through college and said her student loans are now in jeopardy because of tax fraud by this group. Another woman said they not only stole her $1500 tax refund she should have received, they went out and got credit cards in her name and racked up thousands in bills before she found out. It may take months to fix her credit issues as a result. Another victim of this group is a Tampa police officer that was actually working on this case. Many of the victims interviewed commented they had already gone to the local Tampa IRS office when their tax returns were rejected but were getting little cooperation from the IRS.

So why post a story about how easy it was to commit tax fraud? The crooks have known how easy it is to e-file to commit tax fraud for months and months. In fact, if you read the story, THEY WERE RUNNING CLASSES TO TEACH OTHERS HOW TO COMMIT THE E-FILE TAX FRAUD, with 50 or more students in each class, in exchange for a cut of the "take." It took an investigation by the Tampa police to break up the local tax fraud group and arrest 49 people. The IRS, if you watch some of the interviews, were reluctant to cooperate with the Tampa police's investigation. That's just ONE theft ring in one city - how many more are committing this crime across the country? One expert said it could run into the BILLIONS.

As to the arrest, the IRS has no comment. Turbo Tax, the means used to file the electronic tax returns, has no comment.

Senator Bill Nelson yesterday said he will introduce legislation in Congress in the upcoming session to change how the IRS handles electronically filed returns and to increase the penalties for this type of identity theft. As this story spreads throughout the national media, you can bet other members of Congress will jump on the reform bandwagon too.

If the Tampa police hadn't done their investigation which resulted in this big bust and the local Tampa news media had not reported it, do you really think that the reforms being proposed by Nelson would be on the top of his priority list for Congress? Or would the fraud continue on, bleeding taxpayers of billions of more dollars?

[Big House]

I don't think it is funny either. Nor interesting either. Like putting on a display how easy it is to build a bomb and inviting troubled teens to watch.

In a troubled economy - show people how to commit tax fraud. Or, show them how to get away with out paying their mortgage, like you did on an earlier post.

I think diseminating troublesome information like this is hot helpful. - Just my opinion. Obviously you like to do it, and think differently.

[DKBM33]

I still do not understand how they actually committed the fraud. When I file with Turbo Tax I had to put alot of information form my W-2 on it. Can someone please explain in depth how they did it? Thanks.

I'm just curious because I know someone that had their identity stolen and they are clueless.

[Sunshine Rules]

Scam artists can gather information from all kinds of sources.

I think you may find this web site interesting reading:
Recent Scams – TechTeachToo

[DKBM33]

I am still confused as to how the crooks in Tampa got past the Turbo Tax website. When I file my taxes on it I have to enter alot of Information. Does anyone one actually know?

[loves2read]

It is not the real Turbo Tax program
Investigators say the thieves appropriated the name of a popular tax filing program, dubbing the fraud "Turbo Tax."

but the point is they DID enter a lot of information when they filed the fake returns--
that they either got from sources where they stole/bought the info or they made it up and there was no red flag on the electronic filing to stop the fraudulent return from being treated like it was real--
so the check was sent
then they wanted the REAL person to clarify the contradictions and treated them like they were the wrong-doers

[loves2read]

whoever wrote this article is just a poor journalist--
check out this comment
"...But unlike murder and robbery and other street crimes, Goff [a police detective] said, people who commit tax fraud think they aren't hurting anyone...."
If you read the article you get the idea that the people who murder and rob really don't care if they are hurting anyone or not...
yet the article imples that they do..have a conscience...
get real...
none of those people have a conscience...how can you have a conscience and be a career criminal